New Frontier of Plant Breeding Using Gamma Irradiation and Biotechnology

Abstract

Mutation is an underlying cause of evolution as a mutant, either natural or artificial, with a novel trait may be preferentially selected for nature because of its superior survival adaptive features. Because of the desirability of the novelty, mutation is the heritable change to an individual’s genetic makeup, which is passed on from parent to offspring and thereby, drives evolution. In nature, mutations are spontaneously caused by errors in the DNA replication. Gamma radiation induced mutation in plant breeding is the one effective method that can cause DNA changes via direct and indirect actions. Many crop varieties have been created using gamma irradiation mutagenesis technology for trait improvement that enhance the characteristic or increase the abiotic and biotic stress tolerance. Plant breeding and genetics procedure usually start from mutation induction by gamma irradiation and work with the other modern enabling technologies, such as tissue culture or molecular genetics. Tissue culture and bioreactor techniques are used for synthesizing new plant varieties, while the molecular genetic technique is used for genetic analysis of the new varieties. The irradiation coupled with new modern tissue culture and molecular genetic technology is widely used to induce plant mutation breeding for creating new commercial plant varieties.