CROP improvement UTILIZING GENOMICS IN PLANTS H umans have long relied on agriculture to sustain life. About 10,000 years ago, people living in the region known as the Fertile Crescent began adapting wild plants for human use, a process known as domestication. These early farmers selected plants with desirable traits, such as larger fruit or disease resistance, and cultivated them.
Over generations, humans transformed these wild plants into crops that can be reliably grown and har- vested at large scale, providing a stable food source for human populations. However, as our population grows and climate change alters our environment, the demand for efficient, resilient, and sustainable agriculture has never been greater. The differences that distinguish one plant from another are encoded in the plant’s DNA. By understand- ing the genetic makeup of plants, scientists can identify specific genes that control traits like yield, disease resistance, drought tolerance, and nutritional content. This knowledge allows them to develop new crop va- rieties that are more productive and better adapted to changing conditions. At the HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology, our plant scientists and geneticists are experts at plant genome sequencing and analysis. Using this genomic information, they seek to help address critical challenges in agriculture, such as climate change and food security. Our research teams collaborate with farmers and plant breeders globally to translate these genomic discoveries into practical applications, ultimately improving agricultural sustainability and ensuring a reliable food supply for the future. ■
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peanuts
Learn what is growing in HudsonAlpha’s Kathy L. Chan Greenhouse
HUDSONALPHA INSTITUTE FOR BIOTECHNOLOGY
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