Plant Genome II Conference
Town & Country Conference Center, San Diego, CA, January, 1994.
PG-II: GENOME MAP ASSISTED PLANT BREEDING FOR FOREST TREES
GENOME MAP ASSISTED PLANT BREEDING FOR FOREST TREES
Ben-Hui Liu 1, 2, Ron Sederoff 2, David O'Malley 2, and Ross
Whetten 2. l Department of Statistics and 2 Forest
Biotechnology Group, Department of Forest, Box 8008, North
Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695-8008
Time is the major limitation of forest tree breeding.
Genome map assisted plant breeding (GMAPB) could provide ways to
circumvent this limitation. Marker assisted selection (MAS),
which includes progeny selection in breeding populations and
mating design, will be the main focus of this presentation. The
limitations of MAS have been overstated. New methods of QTL
mapping provide greater resolution than conventional quantitative
approaches. Oligogenic models of genetic control are more
appropriate to QTL analysis, and polygenic concepts of
heritability and selection response may not adequately model
selection based on QTL effects and QTL genotypes. An alternative
approach to classical quantitative genetics MAS within breeding
populations would take into account more realistic models for
mapping, for oligogenic control of traits, and for limited
populations sizes. Monte Carlo simulation results show that
selection for QTL effects has significant potential to accelerate
gain in applied plant breeding. Molecular markers could help
breeders carry out parent selection for breeding population
synthesis and be useful in designing tree breeding strategies to
maximize short term genetic gain, and to preserve genetic
diversity for long term genetic improvement. Tree breeding is at
an early stage compared with field crop breeding, but could
benefit more from MAS efficiencies because of the long time
required to complete a cycle of breeding and selection. The
potential to use MAS in combination with vegetative propagation
will be discussed in this presentation.
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