INTEGRATIVE GENOMICS AND BIOINFORMATICS APPROACHES TO PLANT GENETICS
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.71146/kjmr959Keywords:
Integrative genomics, bioinformatics, plant genetics, multi-omics, crop breeding, genomic selection, drought tolerance, disease resistanceAbstract
Integrative genomics and bioinformatics have revolutionized plant genetics by enabling high-resolution analysis of plant genomes and providing deep mechanistic insight into the molecular basis of agronomically important traits. Advances in sequencing technologies and computational tools have elucidated the genetic and molecular processes governing plant growth, stress responses, and disease resistance. This study investigates the utility of integrative genomics and bioinformatics for identifying key genes and pathways associated with critical agronomic traits, and evaluates the potential of these approaches to enhance crop breeding strategies. Whole-genome sequencing of five plant species—rice, maize, wheat, Arabidopsis, and soybean—was performed using Illumina and PacBio platforms. Bioinformatics workflows encompassing genome assembly, annotation, RNA-Seq differential expression analysis, and genome-wide association studies (GWAS) were implemented. Multi-omics integration combining transcriptomic, proteomic, and metabolomic datasets was carried out to reconstruct molecular networks and identify genetic variants associated with key traits. Results revealed several genes significantly linked to yield, disease resistance, and drought tolerance. Multi-omics integration deepened understanding of gene regulatory networks, and machine learning algorithms identified novel biomarkers for crop improvement. Genomics-assisted breeding strategies were shown to improve parental selection efficiency. Integrative genomics and bioinformatics are essential modern tools for identifying genetic markers for crop improvement and hold considerable promise for accelerating the development of stress-tolerant, food-secure crop varieties.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Intikhab Alam, Mahwish Iftikhar, Bai-Bureh O'Bai Kamara (Author)
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