Model Plants and Crop Improvement provides a critical assessment of the potential of model plant species for crop improvement. The first comprehensive summary of the use of model plant systems, the book delineates the model species' contribution to understanding the genomes of crop species.

Features:

• Discusses the ecological significance and variation of dormancy characteristics between species
• Focuses on the comprehensive analysis of the rice genome, from mapping to sequencing
• Discusses progress in the characterization of loci in crop species and the identification of the genes required for critical steps in the establishment of the legume-Rhizobium symbiosis
• Provides an overview of signal perception and transduction of the rice defense response
• Reviews transgenic experiments that study adaptive strategies used by plants to tolerate freezing stress

The book provides an in-depth examination of the achievements and limitations of the model paradigm. It explores how continued research in models can contribute to the goal of delivering the outputs of molecular biology to crops.

Covering the major genetic models such as Arabidopsis thaliana, Lotus japonicus, and Medigago, Model Plants and Crop Improvements goes on to discuss applications to food plants of global importance including rice, canola, and legumes. The book introduces the evolutionary, genetic, genomic, and morphological attributes of B. distachyon that make it such an attractive new model plant system.

Contents

1. Development and Application of Genomic Models for Large-Crop Plant Genomes
2. Conserved Mechanisms of Dormancy and Germination as Targets for Manipulation of Agricultural Problems
3. Utilization of Arabidopsis and Brassica Genomic Resources to Underpin Genetic Analysis and Improvement of Brassica Crops
4. Characterization of the Completed Rice Genome Sequence and Scope of its Utilization in Cereal Improvement
5. Model Legume Medicago Truncatula
6. Brachypodium distachyon: A New Model System for Structural and Functional Analysis of Grass Genomes
7. The Green Alga Chlamydomonas as a Tool to Study the Nitrate Assimilation Pathway in Plants
8. Transcription Factors Regulating Plant Defense Responses
9. Defense Signaling and Pathway Interactions Involved in Rice Disease Resistance
10. Identification of Heat-Shock Factor Regulated Genes and Pathways
11. Improving Low-Temperature Tolerance in Plants

Index

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