Revealing gene regulation and associations through biological networks

Traditionally, over the last 10,000 years, agriculture has relied on natural biological evolution and careful selection of plant varieties by farmers that was used as the founder material by plant breeders in the last 150 years for further genetic improvement. Plant breeders played an important role mainly by introgression of a trait of interest, through the transfer of genetic loci, into an elite crop line that exhibits high-yield performance across a wide range of conditions. Modern agriculture has relied on the use of biotechnologies and molecular biology to improve marker development and aid in the discovery of candidate loci or genes associated with desirable traits, thereby reducing the time required for selective breeding.