Genomics

Plant breeding research has historically progressed due to unintentional selection following crop development and the desire for increased food availability. The progress in achieving this objective unveiled the constituents of plant genomes that control the whole plant life. Plant genomics seeks to create high-throughput genome-wide techniques, tools, and approaches to unravel the fundamentals of genetic traits, genetic diversity, and by-product output; to comprehend phenotypic development across the plant developmental stages along with its genetics by ecological factors; to map significant loci in the genome; and subsequently to hasten crop improvement. The accessibility of cost-effective, high-throughput DNA sequencing systems has directed the complete sequencing of hundreds of plant genomes, which has broad implications for all aspects of plant biology research and its applications. Constantly increased efforts have been put into plant genomics studies over the last 30 years. However, these technologies have offered several unanticipated challenges. This chapter briefly reviews developments in plant genomics research over the previous decades, plant genome sequencing initiatives, and major challenges in the genomics era.