With the development of molecular marker technology in the 1980s, the fate of plant breeding has changed. Different types of molecular markers have been developed and advancement in sequencing technologies has geared crop improvement. To explore the knowledge about molecular markers, several reviews have been published in the last three decades; however, all these reviews were meant for researchers with advanced knowledge of molecular genetics. This review is intended to be a synopsis of recent developments in molecular markers and their applications in plant breeding and is devoted to early researchers with a little or no knowledge of molecular markers. The progress made in molecular plant breeding, genetics, genomic selection and genome editing has contributed to a more comprehensive understanding of molecular markers and provided deeper insights into the diversity available for crops and greatly complemented breeding stratagems. Genotyping-by-sequencing and association mapping based on next-generation sequencing technologies have facilitated the identification of novel genetic markers for complex and unstructured populations. Altogether, the history, the types of markers, their application in plant sciences and breeding, and some recent advancements in genomic selection and genome editing are discussed.

In plants, UGTs (UDP-glycosyltransferases) glycosylate various phytohormones and metabolites in response to biotic and abiotic stresses. Little is known about stress-responsive glycosyltransferases in plants. Therefore, it is important to understand the genomic and transcriptomic portfolio of plants with regard to biotic and abiotic stresses. Here, we identified 140, 154, and 251 putative UGTs in Brassica rapa, Brassica oleracea, and Brassica napus, respectively, and clustered them into 14 major phylogenetic groups (A–N). Fourteen major KEGG pathways and 24 biological processes were associated with the UGTs, highlighting them as unique modulators against environmental stimuli. Putative UGTs from B. rapa and B. oleracea showed a negative selection pressure and biased gene fractionation pattern during their evolution. Polyploidization increased the intron proportion and number of UGT-containing introns among Brassica. The putative UGTs were preferentially expressed in developing tissues and at the senescence stage. Differential expression of up- and down-regulated UGTs in response to phytohormone treatments, pathogen responsiveness and abiotic stresses, inferred from microarray and RNA-Seq data in Arabidopsis and Brassica broaden the glycosylation impact at the molecular level. This study identifies unique candidate UGTs for the manipulation of biotic and abiotic stress pathways in Brassica and Arabidopsis.

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Turkey presents a great diversity of common bean landraces in farmers’ fields. We collected 183 common bean accessions from 19 different Turkish geographic regions and 5 scarlet runner bean accessions to investigate their genetic diversity and population structure using phenotypic information (growth habit, and seed weight, flower color, bracteole shape and size, pod shape and leaf shape and color), geographic provenance and 12,557 silicoDArT markers. A total of 24.14% markers were found novel. For the entire population (188 accessions), the expected heterozygosity was 0.078 and overall gene diversity, Fst and Fis were 0.14, 0.55 and 1, respectively. Using marker information, model-based structure, principal coordinate analysis (PCoA) and unweighted pair-group method with arithmetic means (UPGMA) algorithms clustered the 188 accessions into two main populations A (predominant) and B, and 5 unclassified genotypes, representing 3 meaningful heterotic groups for breeding purposes. Phenotypic information clearly distinguished these populations; population A and B, respectively, were bigger (>40g/100 seeds) and smaller (<40g/100 seeds) seed-sized. The unclassified population was pure and only contained climbing genotypes with 100 seed weight 2–3 times greater than populations A and B. Clustering was mainly based on A: seed weight, B: growth habit, C: geographical provinces and D: flower color. Mean kinship was generally low, but population B was more diverse than population A. Overall, a useful level of gene and genotypic diversity was observed in this work and can be used by the scientific community in breeding efforts to develop superior common bean strains.

Abiotic stresses are the major limiting factors influencing the growth and productivity of plants species. To combat these stresses, plants can modify numerous physiological, biochemical, and molecular processes through cellular and subcellular signaling pathways. Calcium-dependent protein kinases (CDPKs or CPKs) are the unique and key calcium-binding proteins, which act as a sensor for the increase and decrease in the calcium (Ca) concentrations. These Ca flux signals are decrypted and interpreted into the phosphorylation events, which are crucial for signal transduction processes. Several functional and expression studies of different CPKs and their encoding genes validated their versatile role for abiotic stress tolerance in plants. CPKs are indispensable for modulating abiotic stress tolerance through activation and regulation of several genes, transcription factors, enzymes, and ion channels. CPKs have been involved in supporting plant adaptation under drought, salinity, and heat and cold stress environments. Diverse functions of plant CPKs have been reported against various abiotic stresses in numerous research studies. In this review, we have described the evaluated functions of plant CPKs against various abiotic stresses and their role in stress response signaling pathways.

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Modern agriculture provides the potential for sustainable feeding of the world's increasing population. Up to the present moment, genetically modified (GM) products have enabled increased yields and reduced pesticide usage. Nevertheless, GM products are controversial amongst policy makers, scientists and the consumers, regarding their possible environmental, ecological, and health risks. Scientific-and-political debates can even influence legislation and prospective risk assessment procedure. Currently, the scientifically-assessed direct hazardous impacts of GM food and feed on fauna and flora are conflicting; indeed, a review of literature available data provides some evidence of GM environmental and health risks. Although the consequences of gene flow and risks to biodiversity are debatable. Risks to the environment and ecosystems can exist, such as the evolution of weed herbicide resistance during GM cultivation. A matter of high importance is to provide precise knowledge and adequate current information to regulatory agencies, governments, policy makers, researchers, and commercial GMO-releasing companies to enable them to thoroughly investigate the possible risks.