Understanding the genetic architecture of complex traits is essential for designing the ideal crop. This study applies multiple genome-wide approaches to dissect flowering, maturity, pigment content, lodging, and yield in middle American common beans. Full article:

Slowing grape ripening could help the wine industry adapt to warmer climates - but how can this be achieved genetically? This study uncovers natural variation from a wild relative that significantly reduces ripening speed in grapevine. Full article: rdcu.be/eOv2g

Reproductive development in wheat is key to grain number and overall yield - but the genetic basis of fertility remains incompletely understood. This study identifies a gene linked to both male and female sterility in wheat. Read:

Improving disease resistance in crops means understanding both the genes that help and those that hinder. This study pinpoints a key susceptibility gene in barley associated with leaf rust, narrowing it to a small genomic region and identifying a strong candidate. Read:

Understanding the genetic building blocks behind crop quality is key to improving performance and value. This study takes a fresh look at a key group of genes involved in wheat quality using a new tool applied across 26 grass genomes. Full Article:

Understanding the genetics behind cotton fiber quality is essential for advancing breeding efforts. This study explores the genetic basis of fiber development, leading to the identification of a key gene involved in cell elongation and quality traits. Full Article:

Grain weight is a major driver of wheat yield, but improving it without reducing grain number per spike remains a challenge. This study identifies stable QTLs for grain size traits, offering new tools to address this trade-off in breeding. Full Article:

Tiller number is a key component of wheat architecture and yield. This study tracks how breeding has shaped this trait over time, identifying QTLs and selected haplotypes that contribute to reduced tillering and increased spike productivity in modern Chinese wheat. Full Article:

Understanding how soybean flowering and maturity respond to genetic and environmental factors is key for local adaptation. This study uses GWAS to uncover QTNs and their interactions with environments and other loci, offering new insights into the genetic control of phenology. Read:

Selecting the best mix of clones in ancient grapevine varieties requires balancing multiple traits. This study introduces an integer programming approach to optimise polyclonal selection, offering a tool to maximise genetic gains across key viticultural and enological traits. Read:

Endogenous antioxidant systems grains fluctuate dramatically among genotypes, creating breeding blind spots for nutritional enhancement. Phenotype-genotype association screens across wheat populations have uncovered genomic signatures linked to tocerpherol metabolism. Full article:

Dwarfing is a key trait for improving crop architecture and production efficiency in watermelon. This study identifies ClaCSLH1 as a regulator of internode elongation, showing how its disruption alters cell wall composition and leads to a stable dwarf phenotype. Full article:

High-quality genome assemblies are key to unlocking genetic variation in crop varieties. This study presents the chromosome-level assembly of high-yield soybean variety Mengdou1137, revealing resistance genes and trait-associated variants for disease and lodging resistance. Read:

Monosomic alien addition lines offer a powerful tool for exploring genome interactions in Brassica species. This study develops Brassica rapa–nigra MAALs, shedding light on B-genome contributions to trait expression and revealing insights into chromosome transmission. Full article:

Stripe rust remains a major challenge in wheat production. This study characterises adult-plant resistance in Yunnan hulled wheat, identifying and validating three QTLs with additive effects that provide strong potential for breeding resilient varieties. Full article: rdcu.be/evKum

Seed coat colour in peanut is linked to nutritional value, but its genetic control is not fully understood. This study fine-maps a major locus for red testa and identifies an anthocyanin reductase gene as a strong candidate, offering insights into pigment accumulation. Article:

Protein and oil content are core traits for soybean breeding, yet their genetic regulation is complex. This study integrates QTL mapping, BSA-seq, RNA-seq, and mutation validation to identify candidate genes, supporting future improvement through marker-assisted selection. Article:

Trichome traits impact the appearance and quality of Chinese cabbage, yet their genetic control remains unclear. This study identifies a rare stop-gain mutation in BrGL2, shedding light on the molecular regulation of trichome development. Full article:

GxE interactions present a major challenge in hybrid breeding under tropical conditions. This study demonstrates that incorporating environmental features into genomic prediction models can improve the accuracy of hybrid performance predictions in biomass sorghum. Read:

Finger millet plays a key nutritional and agronomic role in East Africa, yet its genetic diversity remains underutilised. This study investigates the population structure of Ethiopian landraces and identifies genomic regions and haplotypes linked to key yield. Full article:

Climate change is shifting the timing of key developmental stages in grapevine. This study integrates genetic data into phenological models to predict how specific allele combinations may perform under future climate scenarios, supporting the development of resilient hybrids. Read:

Historic germplasm collections hold valuable alleles for wheat improvement. This study uses genomic and phenotypic analysis of the Watkins collection to find loci linked to disease resistance and climate adaptation, offering new opportunities to diversify breeding gene pools. Read:

Wild pigmented rice holds untapped potential for boosting nutrition and resilience in agriculture. This review explores how precision gene editing and neo-domestication strategies can transform wild rice into a high-value crop. Full article:

Improving yield in wheat relies on uncovering the genetic basis of complex traits. This study combines linkage and association analysis to identify key genomic regions and candidate genes, providing valuable targets for future breeding and gene discovery efforts. Article:

Cloning genes in wheat has long been hindered by its large and complex genome. This review outlines recent advances in genomic tools and strategies that are transforming gene cloning in wheat and its relatives, enabling faster progress in trait discovery and crop improvement. Read:

Seed germination and dormancy are critical traits influencing yield stability and grain quality in maize. This study maps Zmccr3, a key gene regulating seed germination and constructs a broader regulatory network involved in dormancy-to-germination transition. Article:

Grain size and leaf angle are key contributors to yield and planting density in rice. This study uncovers how OsBSK2 and OsBSK3 influence these traits through a MAPK signalling cascade, offering new insight into the hormonal and developmental control of plant architecture. Read:

Improving genomic prediction is critical for accelerating selection in breeding programs. This study introduces a deep learning model that combines Elastic Net feature selection with transformer-based embeddings, offering better accuracy and flexibility across datasets. Article:

Spontaneous genome doubling is key to improving doubled haploid efficiency in maize, but remains underexplored in sweet corn. This study maps genetic variation for haploid male fertility, revealing candidate loci and highlighting untapped potential in sweet corn germplasm. Article:

Hybrid sterility limits the full use of heterosis in rice breeding. This study uncovers two chromosomal structural variation loci associated with sterility in interspecific hybrids, revealing a new inheritance model and offering insights to improve hybrid compatibility. Full article:

Florigen genes are central to the floral transition in rice, but their full role remains underexplored. This study reveals a two-phase action of Hd3a and RFT1, showing how low and high florigen levels distinctly regulate developmental timing and floral induction. Full article:

Seed aging can reduce viability, especially in oil-rich crops like Brassica napus. This study identifies a GLK transcription factor linked to seed vigour after aging and explores its role in regulating fatty acid composition and membrane stability. Full article:

Using identity-by-descent mapping, this research identifies genomic regions and candidate genes under selection pressure during lettuce diversification. The analysis reveals how selective breeding has driven morphological differentiation across cultivated lettuce types. Full article:

Comparative genomic analysis of two safflower cultivars using chromosome-scale assemblies reveals genetic variation underlying key agronomic traits including fatty acid profiles, flowering phenology, and flavonoid metabolism. Full article:

This research maps stable QTLs with pleiotropic effects on essential element accumulation in wheat grain. The identification of these multi-trait QTL offers molecular markers and breeding targets for developing wheat cultivars with enhanced nutritional profiles. Article:

Long-term crossbreeding has shaped the distinct morphology and traits of cultivated lettuce types. This study applies identity-by-descent mapping to reveal key genomic regions under selection across major lettuce varieties, offering insights into trait evolution and diversity. Read:

Researchers have fine-mapped a major genetic locus controlling subgynoecy in chieh-qua.These findings provide valuable molecular tools for developing female-biased breeding lines to optimize hybrid seed production and crop yields. Article:

Domestication shapes crop diversity through adaptations to local environments. This study presents chromosome-scale genomes of two cultivated safflower lines, revealing genetic differences in traits like fatty acid composition, flowering time, and flavonoid biosynthesis. Read:

New research demonstrates that targeted deletion of α-gliadin genes on chromosome 6D can simultaneously improve gluten functionality and reduce immunogenic epitopes associated with celiac disease. Full article:

Enhancing nutrient content in wheat is vital for improving food quality and security. This study identifies stable, pleiotropic QTL influencing the accumulation of multiple essential elements, providing a foundation for breeding nutritionally enhanced wheat varieties. Article:

QTL mapping identifies stable major locus on chromosome 3B conferring powdery mildew resistance in strawberry. Full article:

Sex differentiation plays a key role in hybrid seed production and yield in cucurbit crops. This study fine-maps a major locus controlling subgynoecy in chieh-qua and identifies a strong candidate gene, offering new tools and insights for breeding female-biased lines. Read:

Targeted editing of Ghd7 and PRR37 regulatory regions fine-tunes heading date in elite rice varieties. Precision approach adjusts flowering time while enhancing yield potential. Full Article:

Balancing end-use quality and health concerns is a major challenge in wheat improvement. This study investigates the effects of deleting α-gliadin genes, revealing a promising strategy to enhance gluten strength while reducing celiac disease-triggering epitopes. Read:

Pangenome reveals structural variant-driven variation in expression of in winter oilseed rape. Framework enables population-scale SV-eQTL discovery beyond traditional SNP-based approaches - major advance for functional genomics. Read more here:

Powdery mildew is a major challenge in strawberry production. This study maps resistance QTLs in a reconstructed breeding population, identifying a stable major locus on chromosome 3B and providing new genetic resources for disease-resilient strawberry breeding. Read:

Multi-population mapping approach reveals genetic basis of plant height and general combining ability in maize. Study integrates inbred, hybrid & F2 data across diverse backgrounds to optimize breeding for plant architecture.

Tuning heading date is essential for optimising yield and adaptability in elite rice varieties. This study uses targeted editing of regulatory regions in Ghd7 and PRR37 to adjust flowering time and enhance yield potential, offering new strategies for precision breeding in rice. Read:

Multi-environment GWAS reveals genetic architecture of 19 agronomic traits in broomcorn millet. Study maps loci controlling growth, development & yield components. Full article here:

Structural variants play a major role in shaping gene expression, yet they’re often overlooked in SNP-based analyses. This study uses a pangenome graph to explore SV-driven expression variation in winter oilseed rape. Article: