title: Creating new interspecific hybrid and polyploid crops.
abstract: Agricultural selection of desirable traits in domesticated plant and animal species mimics natural evolutionary selection for ability of species to survive, thrive, and reproduce in the wild. However, one evolutionary process is currently underutilised for human agricultural purposes: speciation through interspecific hybridisation and polyploid formation. Despite promising successes in creation of new hybrid and or polyploid species in many genera, few geneticists and breeders deliberately take advantage of polyploidy and interspecific hybridisation for crop improvement. We outline the possible benefits as well as potential problems and criticisms with this approach, and address how modern advances in technology and knowledge can help to create new crop species for agriculture.
authors.affiliation: Plant Breeding Department, IFZ Research Centre for Biosystems, Land Use and Nutrition, Justus Liebig University, Heinrich-Buff-Ring 26-32, 35392 Giessen, Germany. Electronic address: annaliese.mason@agar.uni-giessen.de.
authors.forename: Annaliese S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Mason
authors.affiliation: School of Plant Biology, The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Hwy, Crawley 6009, Australia.
authors.forename: Jacqueline
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Batley
mesh_terms: D001709:Biotechnology; D001947:Breeding / Q000379:methods*; D018556:Crops, Agricultural / Q000235:genetics*; D018745:Genome, Plant / Q000235:genetics*; D023281:Genomics; D005838:Genotype; D030821:Plants, Genetically Modified / Q000235:genetics*; D011123:Polyploidy
keywords: crop improvement; hybridisation; meiotic stability; polyploidy; selection; sequencing