November 210

Source: ISB News Report - November 2010

Authors: Joost T. van Dongen and Nicolas Schauer

Currently, monitoring for traits is performed using molecular marker or single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) technology. However, metabolite levels are more closely linked to phenotype than genes and as such may be used as predictive markers. An advantage of this approach is that epistatic, epigenetic, or post-translational effects, which influence the presence or absence of a specific trait, can be directly linked to metabolite profile. Recent studies indicate powerful opportunities for plant breeding using the predictive power of metabolites. This review provides an overview of some recent approaches in which the power of metabolome analysis is exploited to describe or even predict phenotypic features.

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Website: http://www.vt.edu

Published: November 19, 2010