Genetic Improvement of Sugarcane Through Conventional and Molecular Approaches

Abstract

In recent years, efforts to improve sugarcane have focused on the development of biotechnology tools for this crop. It has become clear that sugarcane lacks tools for the biotechnological route of improvement and that the initial efforts in sequencing ESTs had limited impact on breeding. Until recently, the models used by breeders in statistical genetic approaches have been developed for diploid organisms, which are not ideal for a polyploid genome such as that of sugarcane. Breeding programs deal with decreasing yield gains. The contribution of multiple alleles to complex traits such as yield is a basic question underlining the breeding efforts that could only be addressed by the development of specific tools for this grass. However, functional genomics has progressed, and gene expression profiling leads to the definition of gene networks. The sequencing of the sugarcane genome, which is underway, will greatly contribute to numerous aspects of research on grasses. We expect that both the transgenic and the marker-assisted routes for sugarcane improvement will contribute to increased sugar, stress tolerance, and higher yield and that the industry for years to come will be able to rely on sugarcane as the most productive energy crop.