About this Research Topic
Genotype-phenotype models (GPM) of crops, which describe a selection of physiological processes in connection with (quantitative) genetic information, are useful to get a better insight into cropping systems. In order to create a GPM several steps are necessary: first of all come up with a clear definition of the elements (objects, rules, and methods) describing the built-up of the phenotype in terms of its constituent organs. Next, the primary processes, and processes which will show genetic variation or that are involved in yield formation, need to be characterized. Finally, the genotype in a GPM could be simply represented as an array of numbers, where each number indicates a gene which is directly influencing the value of a model parameter or the execution of a rule. The effect of several genes could be integrated first in a regulatory network, thereby creating a more complex output. The genotype itself could be further arranged into “virtual chromosomes”, thereby allowing the simulation of sexual reproduction processes (selection, recombination, mutation …).
The potential uses and applications of GPMs are numerous, in particular for plant breeding, which is a slow process, and in which genotype-phenotype models can help to test the performance of new genotypes under a given environment or of a given cultivar under different climate conditions (climate change): GPMs could be used to simulate the genetic characteristics of plants, e.g. in breeding programs for the design of new varieties. A GPM could be an intuitive and flexible tool to improve our perception of complex crop phenotypes, and its application in plant breeding could massively accelerate all aspects of breeding.
This Research Topic is aiming at showing the latest developments in genotype phenotype modelling of plants, with special emphasis on crop plants, in the context of recently emerging methodologies that have led to a much improved availability of data, such as High-Throughput Phenotyping, improved genomics tools, and functional-structural plant modelling. Contributions will cover all aspects of GPM, from the cellular to the whole plant and population level, e.g. metabolic network models regulated by genetic information, ecophysiological functional-structural plant models (FSPM), in which certain processes are regulated by quantitative trait locus information, or population models enabling interactive simulation of genetic processes (recombination, crossing-over..), with the aim to create ideotyping tools.
Original research papers are welcome, but also topical reviews, as well as opinion papers, and papers on perspectives and on novel methods of genotype-phenotype modeling.
Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.