Woody Plant Biotechnology

Overview on woody plants. Breeding concept. Objectives of breeding. Conventional and Genetic engineering breeding. Workflow of breeding programs. Pre-breeding and gene pyramiding. Limitation to Genetic engineering breeding in woody plants. Overview on genetic diversity. Methods to measure the genetic diversity (molecular markers, GBS). Major determinants in genetic diversity. Overview on methods to identify pathway and genes associated with phenotypical traits (GWAS, QTL, genomic selection, comparative genomics omics approaches, such as genomics, transcriptomics, ionomics, metabolomics, phenomics). Overview on methods to exploit genes and gene variants (plant transformation, genome editing, RNA interference, haploid and double aploid plants, protoplast transformation, somatic embryos). Breeding approaches on grapevine (resistance to diseases and drought). Breeding approaches on citrus (seedless cultivars, aroma, nutraceutical properties). Breeding approaches on peach (peache vs nectarine, fruit shape, melting, texture, acidity, chilling requirements and bloom date). Breeding approaches on apples (texture, resistance to fire blight disease and powdery mildew, flech oxidation). Laboratory (RNA extraction and quantification, cDNA synthesis, real-time PCR and data analysis) and computational activities (simulation of GWAS data analysis).