The Almond Tree Genome

This book brings together the latest information on almond genomics and transcriptomics, with a particular focus on cutting-edge findings, tools, and strategies employed in genome sequencing and analysis with regard to the most important agronomic traits. Cultivated almond [(Prunus dulcis (Miller) D. A. Webb, syn. Prunus amygdalus Batsch., Amygdalus communis L., Amygdalus dulcis Mill.)] is a tree crop producing seeds of great economic interest, and adapted to hot and dry climates. Domesticated in Southeast Asia, its small diploid genome and phenotypic diversity make it an ideal model to complement genomics studies on peach, generally considered to be the reference Prunus species. Both represent consanguineous species that evolved in two distinct environments: warmer and more humid in the case of peach, and colder and xerophytic for almond. The advent of affordable whole-genome sequencing, in combination with existing Prunus functional genomics data, has now made it possible to leverage the novel diversity found in almond, providing an unmatched resource for the genetic improvement of this species.

This is the first book on Rosaceae genomics. It covers progress in recent genomic research among the Rosaceae, grounding this firmly in the historical context of genetic studies and in the application of genomics technologies for crop development.

The development of new plant varieties is a long and tedious process involving the generation of large seedling populations for the selection of the best individuals. While the ability of breeders to generate large populations is almost unlimited, the selection of these seedlings is the main factor limiting the generation of new cultivars. Molecular studies for the development of marker-assisted selection (MAS) strategies are particularly useful when the evaluation of the character is expensive, time-consuming, or with long juvenile periods. The papers published in the Special Issue “Plant Genetics and Molecular Breeding” report highly novel results and testable new models for the integrative analysis of genetic (phenotyping and transmission of agronomic characters), physiology (flowering, ripening, organ development), genomic (DNA regions responsible for the different agronomic characters), transcriptomic (gene expression analysis of the characters), proteomic (proteins and enzymes involved in the expression of the characters), metabolomic (secondary metabolites), and epigenetic (DNA methylation and histone modifications) approaches for the development of new MAS strategies. These molecular approaches together with an increasingly accurate phenotyping will facilitate the breeding of new climate-resilient varieties resistant to abiotic and biotic stress, with suitable productivity and quality, to extend the adaptation and viability of the current varieties.

This book provides a comprehensive overview of almond growing from a scientific and horticultural perspective, covering botany, production, processing and industrial uses. Almonds are an important crop; they are highly regarded for their flavour, nutritional properties and culinary uses, and almond oil is used widely in food, cosmetic and pharmaceutical production. They are easy to transport and have long storability, facilitating global dissemination. Demand is constantly increasing and global production has more than doubled in the last 20 years. Authored by an international team of experts and presented in full colour throughout, this book is an essential resource for academic researchers and extension workers, as well as growers, orchard managers and industry personnel.

This book covers the biotechnology of all the major fruit and nut species. Since the very successful first edition of this book in 2004, there has been rapid progress for many fruit and nut species in cell culture, genomics and genetic transformation, especially for citrus and papaya. This book covers both these cutting-edge technologies and regeneration pathways, protoplast culture, in vitro mutagenesis, ploidy manipulation techniques that have been applied to a wider range of species. Three crop species, Diospyros kaki (persimmon), Punica granatum (pomegranate) and Eriobotrya japonica (loquat) are included for the first time. The chapters are organized by plant family to make it easier to make comparisons and exploitation of work with related species. Each chapter discusses the plant family and the related wild species for 38 crop species, and has colour illustrations. It is essential for scientists and post graduate students who are engaged in the improvement of fruit, nut and plantation crops.

This edited book provides a comprehensive overview of modern strategies in fruit crop breeding in the era of climate change and global warming. It demonstrates how advances in plant molecular and genomics-assisted breeding can be utilized to produce improved fruit crops with climate-smart traits. Agriculture is facing a number of challenges in the 21st century, as it has to address food, nutritional, energy and environmental security. Future fruit varieties must be adaptive to the varying scenarios of climate change, produce higher yields of high-quality food, feed, and fuel and have multiple uses. To achieve these goals, it is imperative to employ modern tools of molecular breeding, genetic engineering and genomics for ‘precise’ plant breeding to produce ‘designed’ fruit crop varieties. This book is of interest to scientists working in the fields of plant genetics, genomics, breeding, biotechnology, and in the disciplines of agronomy and horticulture.

This book highlights the uses for underutilized crops, presenting the state-of-the-art in terms of genome sequencing for over 30 crops, previously understudied and under-researched. In a changing climate and with significant pressure on the land, it is the ideal time to be discussing novel crops, with significant biotic and abiotic tolerances and/or rich nutrient profiles for consumers. Previously, the only species with sequenced genomes were high-profile internationally recognized crops, but in the current era genomes are being sequenced for dozens of crops, including those previously classified as underutilized, now being investigated. This book covers food crops, from fruits to tubers, and from grasses to legumes, as well as crops with non-food applications. Some of these crops have draft genomes, and others have polished genomes with extensive resequencing panels. Each chapter tells the story of an individual crop or crop group, written by experts, focusing on the genome data available, revealing more about crop domestication and genetic variation, and the current and future prospects given that this data is now becoming available. It also highlights how even small sequencing projects can provide draft genome sequences suitable for gene discovery, comparative genomics, and identification of molecular markers for understanding these crops further.

The stone fruits—including peaches, apricots, almonds, plums, and cherries—have been bred and grown for thousands of years and today are significant agricultural crops in many local economies worldwide. This volume presents a comprehensive commentary on classical genetics and breeding, molecular mapping and breeding of agronomic traits, and the cloning of genes of interest. It also explores recent advances on omics sciences including structural and functional genomics, proteomics, nd metabolomics. The book enumerates the whole genome sequencing of the model fruit plant peach and discusses bioinformatic strategies and tools for stone fruit research