Advances to improve the eating and cooking qualities of rice by marker-assisted breeding

Abstract

The eating and cooking qualities of rice are heavily emphasized in breeding programs because they determine market values and they are the appealing attributes sought by consumers. Conventional breeding has developed traditional varieties with improved eating and cooking qualities. Recently, intensive genetic studies have pinpointed the genes that control eating and cooking quality traits. Advances in genetic studies have developed molecular techniques, thereby allowing marker-assisted breeding (MAB) for improved eating and cooking qualities in rice. MAB has gained the attention of rice breeders for the advantages it can offer that conventional breeding cannot. There have been successful cases of using MAB to improve the eating and cooking qualities in rice over the years. Nevertheless, MAB should be applied cautiously given the intensive effort needed for genotyping. Perspectives from conventional breeding to marker-assisted breeding will be discussed in this review for the advancement of the eating and cooking qualities of fragrance, amylose content (AC), gel consistency (GC) and gelatinization temperature (GT) in rice. These four parameters are associated with eating and cooking qualities in rice. The genetic basis of these four parameters is also included in this review. MAB is another approach to rice variety improvement and development in addition to being an alternative to genetic engineering. The MAB approach shortens the varietal development time, and is therefore able to deliver improved rice varieties to farmers within a shorter period of time.

Development of a RAD-Seq Based DNA Polymorphism Identification Software, AgroMarker Finder, and Its Application in Rice Marker-Assisted Breeding

“…To meet the demand for feeding the growing population, rice production has to be greatly increased [ 2 , 3 ]. Furthermore, due to better living standards, rice varieties with high eating and cooking quality are heavily emphasized during breeding selection processes, as they are key factors in attracting consumers and determining grain prices [ 4 , 5 ]. In facing these challenges, new plant breeding technologies have to be developed [ 6 , 7 ].…”

The Molecular Determination of Hybridity and Homozygosity Estimates in Breeding Populations of Lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.)

“…Molecular markers have also been extensively used to assess genetic variation and relationships in lettuce germplasm [19] and to identify possible duplicate varieties [33]. However, although the benefits derived from exploitation of these molecular tools have also been discussed in marker-assisted breeding programmes [34] and demonstrated in several species [7,35], there are only a few studies on this type in lettuce [20]. The aim of our work, therefore, was to integrate conventional and biotechnological methods in three different steps of a breeding programme to show that this strategy is also effective in L. sativa (Figure 1).…”

Rice Soluble Starch Synthase I: Allelic Variation, Expression, Function, and Interaction With Waxy

“…Thus, improving the taste of traditional high-yielding rice is a major challenge in modern rice breeding programs. At present, multiple molecular tools, especially marker-assisted breeding methods, are widely adopted for improving rice ECQs ( Lau et al, 2015 ; Phing et al, 2016 ). However, progress in breeding of high-quality rice remains limited.…”

“…Starch composition and structure are closely correlated with rice eating and cooking qualities (ECQs), especially taste properties of cooked rice ( Tian et al, 2009 ). Although great efforts have been made to improve rice quality, and a number of ECQ-related genes have been identified and characterized ( Aluko et al, 2004 ; Jeon et al, 2010 ; Phing et al, 2016 ), the underlying genetic mechanisms remain ambiguous as grain quality traits are complex.…”