Advances and Applications of Single-Cell and Spatial Omics for Crop Improvement
摘要
Crop improvement is essential for ensuring global food security and sustainability amidst a growing population and changing climate. Traditional breeding methods, while effective, often fall short of addressing complex traits and rapid environmental changes. Single-cell omics technologies offer a transformative approach, providing unprecedented resolution into the cellular heterogeneity of plants. This chapter explores the application of single-cell genomics, transcriptomics, epigenomics, proteomics, and metabolomics in enhancing crop resilience, yield, and nutritional value. By dissecting plant biology at the single-cell level, we can identify key genes, regulatory pathways, and metabolic processes that govern crucial agronomic traits. This chapter highlights successful case studies in rice, maize, and other crops, demonstrating the power of single-cell omics in unravelling complex biological mechanisms. We also discuss the technical challenges, data analysis hurdles, and future directions of this emerging field, including its integration with artificial intelligence, gene editing technologies, and synthetic biology. Overcoming these challenges will pave the way for developing resilient, high-yielding crops tailored to specific environments, ultimately contributing to global food security.