Role of omics approaches in vegetable breeding for insect pest resistance

Abstract

AbstractVegetables are usually herbaceous and succulent plants. This succulent nature of vegetable crops makes them susceptible to attack by a wide variety of pests. Traditionally insect resistance has not been as widely investigated as disease resistance due to relatively smaller economic losses caused by insects as compared to pathogens in earlier times. But owing to indiscriminate use of pesticides, population of natural enemies has declined which in turn has increased the frequency of insect epidemics. Outbreak of Tuta absoluta in tomato is a recent example. Intense selection of crops has reduced the genetic variability and has increased their genetic vulnerability to insects. Some pests like Meloidogyne spp., Helicoverpa and aphids are polyphagous and cannot be managed by chemical sprays. In such cases resorting to insect resistance is the best option for a breeder. But development of insect resistant variety takes considerable time and efforts. Recent advancements in omics approaches has accelerated the resistance breeding. Genetic markers permit effective indirect selection for insect resistant plants. They are effective tools for identifying genomic regions controlling pest resistance. Molecular markers permit transfer of precise DNA segments from disease resistant species to susceptible cultivars thus preventing the problem of linkage drag. This review highlights the achievements in recent years in vegetable resistance breeding via various omics-based approaches viz. genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics and metabolomics.