From Mendel’s discovery on pea to today’s plant genetics and breeding

Abstract

This work discusses several selected topics of plant genetics and breeding in relation to the 150th anniversary of the seminal work of Gregor Johann Mendel. In 2015, we celebrated the 150th anniversary of the presentation of the seminal work of Gregor Johann Mendel. While Darwin's theory of evolution was based on differential survival and differential reproductive success, Mendel's theory of heredity relies on equality and stability throughout all stages of the life cycle. Darwin's concepts were continuous variation and "soft" heredity; Mendel espoused discontinuous variation and "hard" heredity. Thus, the combination of Mendelian genetics with Darwin's theory of natural selection was the process that resulted in the modern synthesis of evolutionary biology. Although biology, genetics, and genomics have been revolutionized in recent years, modern genetics will forever rely on simple principles founded on pea breeding using seven single gene characters. Purposeful use of mutants to study gene function is one of the essential tools of modern genetics. Today, over 100 plant species genomes have been sequenced. Mapping populations and their use in segregation of molecular markers and marker-trait association to map and isolate genes, were developed on the basis of Mendel's work. Genome-wide or genomic selection is a recent approach for the development of improved breeding lines. The analysis of complex traits has been enhanced by high-throughput phenotyping and developments in statistical and modeling methods for the analysis of phenotypic data. Introgression of novel alleles from landraces and wild relatives widens genetic diversity and improves traits; transgenic methodologies allow for the introduction of novel genes from diverse sources, and gene editing approaches offer possibilities to manipulate gene in a precise manner.

Improved pea reference genome and pan-genome highlight genomic features and evolutionary characteristics

“…Pea is one of the most important legume crops with high nutritional value and biological nitrogen fixation capacity 43 , 44 , which has also been a model plant species for genetic studies since the discovery of Mendel’s laws of inheritance 45 . High-quality reference genomes and annotations provide fundamental resources for characterizing genetic traits in crops.…”

The evolving EU regulatory framework for precision breeding

“…Ever since humans started to actively cultivate plants for near-settlement access to harvest 12–14,000 years ago, the genetic make-up of plants has been altered to better suit human needs in terms of cultivation properties and nutritional quality. Starting with the recognition of the Mendelian laws of inheritance early in the twentieth century (Fischer 1936), this breeding process went from a relatively simple on-farm mass selection procedure to an active off-farm scientific procedure whereby the variation in the genetic material is actively increased and suitable genetic combinations are selected for in a much more targeted manner (Smykal et al 2016). The early stages of scientifically guided plant breeding involved deliberate crosses between suitable parent lines.…”

Legume Genetics and Biology: From Mendel’s Pea to Legume Genomics

“…The pea (Pisum sativum L.) was the original model organism used in Mendel´s discovery (1866) of the laws of inheritance, making it the foundation of modern plant genetics. It had already been an object of experimental work before Mendel [9,10]. Despite their close phylogenetic relationships, crop legumes differ greatly in their genome size, base chromosome number, ploidy level, and reproductive biology.…”