Using nuclear science in marker-assisted plant breeding

Imagine that you have to identify a glass of seawater among a hundred glasses of drinking water just by looking at them. Almost impossible! But what if the glass of seawater had a small red dot, a marker? You could solve the mystery in an instant.

Finding this marker is precisely what can be done today thanks to scientific advancements.

Plant breeders improve crops through natural or artificial genetic variation to develop new traits. However, they face great difficulties in integrating these improved traits into the varieties preferred by farmers. It is a process that requires a long and cumbersome series of crossings, followed by tests and confirmations at each step.

But now, modern DNA sequencing techniques can be used to determine the entire genetic material of plants. Watch the animation and see how it works.