Bioinformatics and Functional Genomics

HorticulturalHorticultural plants are a diverse group of plants, including flowering plants and several early divergent land plants. They can be found across a wide range of taxonomic groups. Many horticulturalHorticultural plants are domesticated, leading to strong artificial selection among them. Tropical fruits such as pineapple, mango, durian, and banana are horticulturalHorticultural plants widely planted in tropical and subtropical regions. VegetablesVegetables are another example of horticulturalHorticultural plants providing essential human consumption nutrientsNutrients. In recent years, bioinformaticsBioinformatics and functional genomicsFunctional genomics approaches have played a pivotal role in developing molecular markersMolecular markers, traitTraits association, and genetic diversityGenetic diversity analysis, providing valuable resources for marker-assisted breedingMarker-assisted breeding programs. This chapter provides current information about applying bioinformaticsBioinformatics tools, databasesDatabase, and functional genomicsFunctional genomics approaches in horticulturalHorticultural plants that include Ananas comosusAnanas comosus (pineapple), Durio zibenthinusDurio zibenthinus (durian), and Brassica oleracea (wildWild cabbage). Various bioinformaticsBioinformatics tools and biological databasesDatabase have been developed and constructed to analyze essential genes or proteins for molecular validation experiments in horticulturalHorticultural plants. This information will facilitate molecular breedingMolecular breeding to improve the quality of horticulturalHorticultural crop varieties effectively.