Technological advances in maize breeding: Past, present and future

Authors: Andorf, Carson; BEAVIS, WILLIAM - Iowa State University; HUFFORD, MATTHEW - Iowa State University; LUBBERSTEDT, THOMAS - Iowa State University; SMITH, STEPHEN - Iowa State University; SUZA, WALTER - Iowa State University; WANG, KAN - Iowa State University; WOODHOUSE, MARGARET - Iowa State University; YU, JIANMING - Iowa State University

Submitted to: Journal of Theoretical and Applied Genetics
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/5/2019
Publication Date: 2/23/2019
Citation: Andorf, C.M., Beavis, W.D., Hufford, M., Lubberstedt, T., Smith, S., Suza, W., Wang, K., Woodhouse, M., Yu, J. 2019. Technological advances in maize breeding: Past, present and future. Journal of Theoretical and Applied Genetics. 132(32):817-849. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00122-019-03306-3.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00122-019-03306-3

Interpretive Summary: Maize has for many decades been both one of the most important crops world-wide, and one of the primary genetic model organisms. More recently, maize breeding has been impacted by rapid technological advances in sequencing and genotyping technology. This manuscript reports a review on past, current and future developments relevant for maize breeding with regard to (i) genome analysis, (ii) germplasm diversity characterization and utilization, (iii) transformation and genome editing, (iv) inbred line development and hybrid seed production, (v) understanding and prediction of hybrid performance, (vi) breeding methodology, and (vii) synthesize those sections for an outlook into opportunities and challenges of future maize breeding.

Technical Abstract: Maize has for many decades been both one of the most important crops world-wide, and one of the primary genetic model organisms. More recently, maize breeding has among others been impacted by rapid technological advances in sequencing and genotyping technology, transformation including genome editing, Doubled Haploid (DH) technology, parallelled by progress in data sciences and development of novel breeding approaches utilizing genomic information. Herein, we report on past, current and future developments relevant for maize breeding with regard to (i) genome analysis, (ii) germplasm diversity characterization and utilization, (iii) manipulation of genetic diversity by transformation and genome editing, (iv) inbred line development and hybrid seed production, (v) understanding and prediction of hybrid performance, (vi) breeding methodology, and finally (vii) synthesize those sections for an outlook into opportunities and challenges of future maize breeding.