Sugarcane Improvement in Genomic Era: Opportunities and Complexities

Advancements in plant biotechnology, especially genomics have paved the way for a detailed understanding of the mechanisms underlying various biotic and abiotic stress responses. Recent technologies including development of highly efficient DNA sequencing techniques (NGS), identi? cation of SNPs and genome mapping, DNA microarray technologies for gene expression analysis, RNAi (RNA interference) technology and the rapid improvement in data mining tools, can have a major in? uence on future sugarcane crop improvement programs. At present, both micro and macro arrays are being explored for identi? cation of genes expressed speci?cally in stems, disease resistance genes and those involved in carbohydrate metabolism. Genomics cannot be used alone for the improvement of sugarcane but is an essential component of a system biology approach. Ultimately, this will yield best results and is a likely root to the timely production of novel sugarcane varieties that are optimized for a variety of traits relating to sucrose and alternative products.