title: Mutation discovery for crop improvement.
abstract: Increasing crop yields to ensure food security is a major challenge. Mutagenesis is an important tool in crop improvement and is free of the regulatory restrictions imposed on genetically modified organisms. The forward genetic approach enables the identification of improved or novel phenotypes that can be exploited in conventional breeding programmes. Powerful reverse genetic strategies that allow the detection of induced point mutations in individuals of the mutagenized populations can address the major challenge of linking sequence information to the biological function of genes and can also identify novel variation for plant breeding. This review briefly discusses recent advances in the detection of mutants and the potential of mutagenesis for crop improvement.
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Science, Rothamsted Research, Centre for Crop Genetic Improvement, Harpenden, Herts AL5 2JQ, UK. martin.parry@bbsrc.ac.uk
authors.forename: Martin A J
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Parry
authors.forename: Pippa J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Madgwick
authors.forename: Carlos
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bayon
authors.forename: Katie
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tearall
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hernandez-Lopez
authors.forename: Marcela
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Baudo
authors.forename: Mariann
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rakszegi
authors.forename: Walid
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Hamada
authors.forename: Adnan
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Al-Yassin
authors.forename: Hassan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ouabbou
authors.forename: Mustapha
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Labhilili
authors.forename: Andrew L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Phillips
mesh_terms: D018556:Crops, Agricultural / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D016296:Mutagenesis; D009154:Mutation; D010940:Plant Proteins / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D010940:Plant Proteins