Rapid development of single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers and their automation have resulted in SNPs becoming the molecular markers of choice in high throughput genotyping of a wide variety of plant species. Advantages of SNPs include prolificacy of polymorphism in any genome, ease of their development, low error rate of genotype calling, and the possibility of finding polymorphism within genes of interest. SNP genotyping platforms provide low cost and high throughput capabilities resulting in a dramatic reduction in cost efficiency. This cost reduction has made the application of marker-assisted breeding technology affordable for even the smallest plant breeding programs.
We will describe how the combination of High Marker Throughput (HMT) and High Sample Throughput (HST) platforms implemented at BioDiagnostics, Inc. (BDI) has been used to assist breeding programs. This combination can be used to optimize the value of breeding projects’ funds by increasing success and reducing cost and time to market of new varieties. We will explain how BDI can reduce the time between developing useful trait markers and implementing them in your breeding programs, using association mapping studies. Advantage of genomic selection in plant breeding with practical examples and also in tree fruit breeding will be discussed. We will also provide examples of projects that have been conducted at BDI to assist breeding programs in the new genomics era.
