A short review on sugarcane: its domestication, molecular manipulations and future perspectives

Abstract

Sugarcane ( Saccharum spp.) is a special crop plant that underwent anthropogenic evolution from a wild grass species to an important food, fodder, and energy crop. Unlike any other grass species which were selected for their kernels, sugarcane was selected for its high stem sucrose accumulation. Flowering in sugarcane is not favored since flowering diverts the stored sugar resources for the reproductive and developmental energy needs. Cultivars are vegetatively propagated and sugarcane breeding is still essentially focused on conventional methods, since the knowledge of sugarcane genetics has lagged that of other major crops. Cultivar improvement has been extremely challenging due to its polyploidy and aneuploidy nature derived from a few interspecific hybridizations between Saccharum officinarum and Saccharum spontaneum, revealing the coexistence of two distinct genome organization modes in the modern variety. Alongside implementation of modern agricultural techniques, generation of hybrid clones, transgenics and genome edited events will help to meet the ever-growing bioenergy needs. Additionally, there are two common biotechnological approaches to improve plant stress tolerance, which includes marker-assisted selection (MAS) and genetic transformation. During the past two decades, the use of molecular approaches has contributed greatly to a better understanding of the genetic and biochemical basis of plant stress-tolerance and in some cases, it led to the development of plants with enhanced tolerance to abiotic stress. Hence, this review mainly intends on the events that shaped the sugarcane as what it is now and what challenges ahead and measures taken to further improve its yield, production and maximize utilization to beat the growing demands.

Identification of promising sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum L.) families and clones based on cane and sugar productivity traits in early selection stages

“…Developing high sucrose and cane-yielding cultivars is a crucial goal in the sugarcane breeding programme (Sanghera and Jamwal 2019a; Perera et al 2022). However, breeders face numerous challenges, including photo and thermo-sensitivity, high polyploidy, aneuploids, poor fertility, lengthy breeding selection cycles and limited genetic diversity in germplasm (Patil et al 2015; Dinesh Babu et al 2022;Hemaprabha et al 2022). Broadening the genetic base of sugarcane involves selecting suitable parental combinations during hybridization based on their phenotypic traits, pedigree history and genetic distance between parents, contributing to better recombinants and promising clones after the selection cycle.…”

Genome-Wide Association Study Unravels Quantitative Trait Loci and Genes Associated with Yield-Related Traits in Sugarcane

“…The commercial varieties were produced by repeated crossing among their progenies. 6 Thus, modern sugar cane has a narrow genetic background due to the lack of introduction of exogenous gene resources. In modern sugar cane, 10% of chromosomes originate from S. spontaneum, 80% from S. officinarum, and 10% from recombinants of the two species.…”

“…7,8 Therefore, improvements in sugar cane yield and sugar content have been extremely slow for decades compared to other crops. 6,9,10 Wild species of sugar cane and its relatives are important germplasms for breeding due to their strong ratoonability, fast growth rate, drought tolerance, and disease resistance. 11,12 Thus, to broaden the genetic background of modern sugar cane, breeders have attempted to enrich sugar cane genome through introgression with sugar cane relatives, including Tripidium, Narenga, Sclerostachya, Erianthus, and Miscanthus, to further improve yield and sugar content as well as resistance/tolerance to biotic and abiotic stress.…”

“…was originally derived from the cross of the “noble” species Saccharum officinarum and the wild species Saccharum spontaneum. The commercial varieties were produced by repeated crossing among their progenies . Thus, modern sugar cane has a narrow genetic background due to the lack of introduction of exogenous gene resources.…”

“…spontaneum, 80% from S. officinarum, and 10% from recombinants of the two species. , Therefore, improvements in sugar cane yield and sugar content have been extremely slow for decades compared to other crops. ,, …”