title: The quest for tolerant varieties: the importance of integrating "omics" techniques to phenotyping.
abstract: The primary objective of crop breeding is to improve yield and/or harvest quality while minimizing inputs. Global climate change and the increase in world population are significant challenges for agriculture and call for further improvements to crops and the development of new tools for research. Significant progress has been made in the molecular and genetic analysis of model plants. However, is science generating false expectations? Are 'omic techniques generating valuable information that can be translated into the field? The exploration of crop biodiversity and the correlation of cellular responses to stress tolerance at the plant level is currently a challenge. This viewpoint reviews concisely the problems one encounters when working on a crop and provides an outline of possible workflows when initiating cellular phenotyping via "-omic" techniques (transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics).
authors.affiliation: Department Génétique Quantitative et Évolution, Le Moulon INRA, CNRS, AgroParisTech, Plateforme PAPPSO, Université Paris-Sud , Gif-sur-Yvette, France.
authors.forename: Michel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zivy
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecogenomics and Systems Biology, University of Vienna , Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: Stefanie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wienkoop
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Research and Innovation, Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology , Belvaux, Luxembourg.
authors.forename: Jenny
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Renaut
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Tecnologia Química e Biológica, New University of Lisbon , Oeiras, Portugal ; Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, New University of Lisbon , Caparica, Portugal.
authors.forename: Carla
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Pinheiro
authors.affiliation: Department of Sciences et Technologies, CNRS/Université Lille , Villeneuve d'Ascq, France.
authors.forename: Estelle
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Goulas
authors.affiliation: Department of Biosystems, University of Leuven , Leuven, Belgium ; SYBIOMA, University of Leuven , Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: Sebastien
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Carpentier
keywords: crop improvement; data integration and computational methods; omics-technologies; phenotype; proteomics