4^th International Conference on Plant Genomics July 14-15, 2016 Brisbane, Australia

Plant pathology is the scientific study of diseases in plants caused by the infectious microorganisms like fungi, bacteria, viruses, viroids, phytoplasmas, protozoa, nematodes, Ascomycetes and parasitic plants. These are called plant pathogens. Plant disease epidemiology is the study of disease in plant populations. 

Plant molecular biology is the study of the molecular basis of plant life. It is particularly concerned with the processes by which the information encoded in the genome is manifested as structures, processes and behaviours.

The commonly used term ‘molecular farming’ describes the large‐scale production of valuable proteins in transgenic plants, including antibodies, vaccines, other pharmaceuticals and industrial proteins. Compared to traditionally used systems such as microbial cultures, plants offer many advantages with respect to economy, quality and safety. The organism or material into which the new genetic information is inserted is often referred to as the expression system since it serves as the system for “expressing” the new product. Plant molecular farming is currently being pursued to address either the increased demand for proteins that cannot be produced in sufficient quantities in either microbial or animal cell cultures, or as a means to produce proteins that cannot be expressed in microbial or animal cell cultures. Vaccines are another area of research in molecular farming. Early-stage clinical trials have been completed on customized, patient-specific vaccines for Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma. These plant-produced vaccines can be generated in 6 to 10 weeks, a much shorter time frame than conventional methods These plant-produced vaccines can be generated in 6 to 10 weeks, a much shorter time frame than conventional methods. As mentioned previously, edible vaccines, although enthusiastically discussed in recent years, have virtually been abandoned.

The benefits of molecular farming have been demonstrated over the last 15 years through the sustained efforts of a growing number of European research groups, many of which have participated in the COST action “Molecular farming: plants as a production platform for high value protein

The global market for genomics is expected to reach USD 22.1 billion by 2020, growing at an estimated CAGR of 10.3% from 2014 to 2020, according to a new study by Grand View Research, Inc. Genomics play an imperative role in the field of infectious disease testing by enabling the use of fast and effective result rendering molecular diagnostic tests. This, coupled with growing prevalence of infectious diseases and hospital acquired infections is expected to drive market growth during the forecast period. Other driving factors for this market include decreasing prices of DNA sequencing, increasing demand for genome analysis in animal and plant feedstock, extensive presence of both private and public external funding programs and growing patient awareness levels. In addition, presence of untapped growth opportunities in emerging countries such as India, Brazil and China and the increasing health awareness are expected to serve this market as future growth opportunities.

In the 1860’s, an Austrian monk named Gregor Mendel introduced a new theory of inheritance based on his experimental work with pea plants.  Prior to Mendel, most people believed inheritance was due to a blending of parental ‘essences’, much like how mixing blue and yellow paint will produce a green color.  Mendel instead believed that heredity is the result of discrete units of inheritance, and every single unit (or gene) was independent in its actions in an individual’s genome.  According to this Mendelian concept, inheritance of a trait depends on the passing-on of these units.

Mendelian Genetics is widely regarded as the corner stone of classical genetics. It is a set of primary beliefs relating to the transmission of hereditary characteristic from parent organisms to their offspring; it underlies much of genetics. Off spring is the product of You do not have access to view this node, a new organism produced by one or more parents.

The Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Biological and Environmental Research has teamed with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture’s Agriculture and Food Research Initiative to fund projects that accelerate plant breeding programs and improve biomass feed stocks by characterizing the genes, proteins, and molecular interactions that influence biomass production. According to a new market research report the global Genotyping Market is expected to reach $17.0 Billion in 2020 from $ 6.2 Billion in 2015, at a healthy CAGR of 22.3% from 2015 to 2020. DALLAS – a new report from Markets and Markets predicts that the global market for genotyping will hit $17 billion by 2020, up from its current $6.2 billion, which translates to a robust 22.3 percent compound annual growth rate for the years 2015-2020. Universities offering Plant Genomics are: Cornell University, University of California—Davis, University of California—Berkeley, Harvard University, Wageningen, University and Research Center, University of Oxford, University of British Columbia, University of Tokyo, University of Florida, University of Cambridge.

Plant cells can be grown in isolation from intact plants in tissue culture systems. The cells have the characteristics of callus cells, rather than other plant cell types. These are the cells that appear on cut surfaces when a plant is wounded and which gradually cover and seal the damaged area.The plant cells can grow on a solid surface as friable, pale-brown lumps (called callus), or as individual or small clusters of cells in a liquid medium called a suspension culture. These cells can be  maintained indefinitely provided they are sub-cultured regularly into fresh growth medium.

Tissue culture cells generally lack the distinctive features of most plant cells. They have a small vacuole, lack chloroplasts and photosynthetic pathways and the structural or chemical features that distinguish so many cell types within the intact plant are absent. They are most similar to the undifferentiated cells found in meristematic regions which become fated to develop into each cell type as the plant grows. Tissue cultured cells can also be induced to re-differentiate into whole plants by alterations to the growth media.Plant tissue cultures can be initiated from almost any part of a plant. The physiological state of the plant does have an influence on its response to attempts to initiate tissue culture. The parent plant must be healthy and free from obvious signs of disease or decay. The source, termed explant, may be dictated by the reason for carrying out the tissue culture. Younger tissue contains a higher proportion of actively dividing cells and is more responsive to a callus initiation programme. The plants themselves must be actively growing, and not about to enter a period of dormancy.

The overall market for TCPs is expected to grow by at least 20 to 25% from 72 million in 2013-2014 to 144 million over the next five years as compared to the average growth rate of 10 to 12% annually during the last two to three years.

Recent technological advancements have substantially expanded our ability to analyze and understand plant genomes and to reduce the gap existing between genotype and phenotype. The fast evolving field of genomics allows scientists to analyze thousand of genes in parallel, to understand the genetic architecture of plant genomes and also to isolate the genes responsible for mutations. Model organisms (Drosophila melanogaster, Caenorhabditis elegans, Saccharomyces cerevisiae) provide genetic and molecular insights into the biology of more complex species. Since the genomes of most plant species are either too large or too complex to be fully analyzed, the plant scientific community has adopted model organisms. They share features such as being diploid and appropriate for genetic analysis, being amenable to genetic transformation, having a (relatively) small genome and a short growth cycle, having commonly available tools and resources, and being the focus of research by a large scientific community. Genomics will accelerate the application of gene technology to agriculture. Plant genomics research now accounts for only 2% of the U.S. federal research and development budget, despite a 35% rate of return to society. Combined federal and state research expenditures have been flat at $2.5 billion for the past 20 years while private investment has grown rapidly, accounting for 60% of total expenditures by 1995. More than 20% of the research budget at state universities is from industry. The value of agriculture to society in the U.S. dwarfs its investment. Eighteen percent of American jobs are tied directly or indirectly to agriculture, as is 15% of the gross domestic product. Over 30% of U.S. agricultural products are exported, at a value of $56.5 billion; this is twice the value of our agricultural imports. Importantly, of the products we export, 60% are processed; only 40% are commodities, and this fraction is declining. The added value from processing is being captured in the U.S., along with the associated jobs.

The global genotyping market is expected to reach $17.0 Billion in 2020 from $ 6.2 Billion in 2015, at a healthy CAGR of 22.3% from 2015 to 2020. Growth in this market is attributed to the increasing incidence of genetic diseases & increasing awareness about personalized medicine, technological advancements, decreasing prices of DNA sequencing, growing importance of SNP genotyping in drug development, and the increasing demand for genetic analysis in animal & plant livestock. The Asia-Pacific market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 25.4% during the forecast period of 2015-2020.

Plant genomics researchers have readily embraced new algorithms, technologies and approaches to generate genome, transcriptome and epigenome datasets for model and crop species that have permitted deep inferences into plant biology.Genotyping by sequencing, or next-generation genotyping (NGG), provides a low-cost genetic screening method to discover novel plant and animal SNPs and perform genotyping studies, often simultaneously in many specimens. With a low-cost tool for routine screening, researchers can accelerate the return on investment in breeding practice. Applications of this method include genetic mapping, screening backcross lines, purity testing, constructing haplotype maps, and performing association and genomic evaluation for plant agrigenomic studies. Sequencing has transformed environmental metagenomics, enabling the study of large microbial communities directly in their natural environment without prior culturing. These studies can yield important information about diverse microbial populations associated with plant development.

Companies are raising money: In just the first part of January 2015, In addition to Roche's investment in Foundation Medicine, 10X Genomics closed a $55.5 million Series B financing and Invitae filed for an initial public offering, These follow a busy 2014 year that saw many investments in next generation sequencing companies and companies with products or services related to next generation sequencing. Agreements with pharmaceutical companies: Companies in the pharmaceutical industry have recognized the potential benefits of next generation sequencing as a research and development tool. During just part of 2015, Genentech announced two agreements, and Pfizer announced one

A number of epigenetic phenomena were discovered in plants, but are not limited to plants. For instance, paramutation describes the heritable change in expression status of an allele upon its exposure to an allele that has the same sequence but displays a different expression status.  plant biology has made to the discovery and study of epigenetic phenomena, plants provide ideal systems for epigenomics research. Epigenomic modifications alter gene expression without changing the letters of the DNA alphabet (A-T-C-G), providing cells with an additional tool to fine-tune how genes control the cellular machinery. By understanding epigenomic alterations in plants, scientists may be able to manipulate them for various purposes, including biofuels and creating crops that can withstand stressful events such as drought. That knowledge of epigenomic changes in crop plants could tell producers what to breed for and could have a huge impact on identifying plants that can survive certain conditions and adapt to environmental stressor. Many fundamental discoveries concerning epigenetics and the elucidation of mechanisms of epigenetic regulation have developed from studies performed in plants. In Plant Epigenetics and Epigenomics: Methods and Protocols, leading scientists in the epigenetics field describe comprehensive techniques that have been developed to understand the plant epigenetic landscape.

The global epigenetics market is projected to reach the value of $18.2 billion by the year 2015 driven by investigation of factors influencing cellular malfunction and disease development. Also, developments in epigenetic studies like biomarker discovery and scientifically useful biomarker tests are expected to support the market growth.

Over the last 30 years, the field of genetic engineering has developed rapidly due to the greater understanding of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) as the chemical double helix code from which genes are made. The term genetic engineering is used to describe the process by which the genetic makeup of an organism can be altered using “recombinant DNA technology.” This involves the use of laboratory tools to insert, alter, or cut out pieces of DNA that contain one or more genes of interest. Genetic engineering techniques are used only when all other techniques have been exhausted, i.e. when the trait to be introduced is not present in the germplasm of the crop; the trait is very difficult to improve by conventional breeding methods; and when it will take a very long time to introduce and/or improve such trait in the crop by conventional breeding methods Although there are many diverse and complex techniques involved in genetic engineering, its basic principles are reasonably simple. There are five major steps in the development of a genetically engineered crop. But for every step, it is very important to know the biochemical and physiological mechanisms of action, regulation of gene expression, and safety of the gene and the gene product to be utilized. There has been a consistent increase in the global area planted to transgenic crops from 1996 to 2012. About 170 million hectares was planted in 2012 to transgenic crops with high market value, such as herbicide tolerant soybean, maize, cotton, and canola; insect resistant maize, cotton, potato, and rice; and virus resistant squash and papaya. With genetic engineering, more than one trait can be incorporated or stacked into a plant. Transgenic crops with combined traits are also available commercially. These include herbicide tolerant and insect resistant maize and cotton.

Farmers have widely adopted GM technology. Between 1996 and 2015, the total surface area of land cultivated with GM crops increased by a factor of 100, from 17,000 square kilometers (4,200,000 acres) to 1,750,000 km² (432 million acres). 10% of the world's croplands were planted with GM crops in 2010.^] In the US, by 2014, 94% of the planted area of soybeans, 96% of cotton and 93% of corn were genetically modified varieties. In recent years GM crops expanded rapidly in developing countries. In 2013 approximately 18 million farmers grew 54% of worldwide GM crops in developing countries.

Plant Physiology and Biochemistry embraces physiology, biochemistry, molecular biology, biophysics, structure and genetics at different levels, from the molecular to the whole plant and environment. Plant physiology is a subdiscipline of botany concerned with the functioning, or physiology, of plants. The field of plant physiology includes the study of all the internal activities of plants—those chemical and physical processes associated with life as they occur in plants. This includes study at many levels of scale of size and time. At the smallest scale are molecular interactions of photosynthesis and internal diffusion of water, minerals, and nutrients. At the largest scale are the processes of plant development, seasonality, dormancy, and reproductive control. Major subdisciplines of plant physiology include phytochemistry (the study of the biochemistry of plants) and phytopathology. The chemical elements of which plants are constructed—principally carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, phosphorus, sulfur, etc.—are the same as for all other life forms animals, fungi, bacteria and even viruses. Only the details of the molecules into which they are assembled differs. Economically, one of the most important areas of research in environmental physiology is that of phytopathology, the study of diseases in plants and the manner in which plants resist or cope with infection.

The global market for ubiquitin proteasome research and development was estimated at nearly $2.9 billion in 2013. The market should total more than $5.5 billion by 2018, and have a five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 14.2% from 2013 to 2018

Plant pathology is the scientific study of diseases in plants caused by pathogens (infectious organisms) and environmental conditions (physiological factors). Plant pathology also involves the study of pathogen identification, disease etiology, disease cycles, economic impact, plant disease epidemiology, plant disease resistance, how plant diseases affect humans and animals, pathosystem genetics, and management of plant diseases. Plant pathology is an applied science that deals with the nature, causes and control of plant diseases in agriculture and forestry. The vital role of plant pathology in attaining food security and food safety for the world cannot be overemphasized. A number of native or non-native plants are unwanted in a specific location for a number of reasons. Similarly, they can be of concern for environmental reasons whereby introduced species out-compete for resources or space with desired endemic plants. While the term "weed" generally has a negative connotation, many plants known as weeds can have beneficial properties. A number of weeds, such as the dandelion and lamb's quarter, are edible, and their leaves or roots may be used for food or herbal medicine.

According to the new market research report “Global Bacterial Biopesticides Market by Application (Seed Treatment, On Farm and Post-Harvest),by Type (Bacillus Thuringiensis, Bacillus Subtilis, Pseudomonas Fluorescens), by Crop Type, by Geography - Analysis and Forecast to 2019”, this market is estimated to grow from $1,438.6 million in 2014 to $2,697.6 million by 2019, at a CAGR of 13.4% from 2014 to 2019

Plant breeding is the science of maximizing positive genetic traits in plants that people grow. It consists of analytical frameworks that allow researchers to create and select plants that are consistently outstanding in desired traits. The central objective in plant breeding is to improve the genetic basis of commercial crop species to comply with changing demands on yield and quality. Statistics plays a key role in modern plant breeding. A classical quantitative genetic model writes the phenotype as an outcome of genetic, environmental and genotype by environment interaction effects.

More than 60 plant breeding companies, based in the UK, are active across the entire spectrum of plant species used for food, feed and energy. Plant breeding makes a significant contribution to the nation’s gross domestic product and to the growth and competitiveness of the UK’s food economy.

The International Rice Genome Sequencing Project (IRGSP) began in September 1997, at a workshop held in conjunction with the International Symposium on Plant Molecular Biology in Singapore. Scientists from many nations attended the workshop and agreed to an international collaboration to sequence the rice genome. As a result, representatives from Japan, Korea, China, the United Kingdom, and the United States met six months later in Tsukuba to establish the guidelines. The participants agreed to share materials and to the timely release of physical maps and annotated DNA se-quence to public databases. The IRGSP has evolved to include 11 nations, and the IRGSP Working Group, composed of a representative from each participating nation, formulates IRGSP policies and finishing standards. The recent interim IRGSP meeting at Clemson University (September 19 and 20, 2000) in South Carolina was the largest rice genome meeting to date and was attended by more than 70 scientists and administrators from Japan, Taiwan, Thailand, Korea, China, India, Brazil, France, Canada, and the United States. 

Although ecologists and physiologists have been using a systems approach to study plants for many years, a systems biology approach that reaches to and includes molecular details is only feasible now with the advent of genomic technologies. Thus, the exciting prospect of the post-genomic era is for the first time to be able to integrate knowledge across different levels of biological organization and to anchor this at the molecular level. The biological systems studied in the department, such as cell cycle, lateral root development, cell death, lignification, bud dormancy, leaf development, plant-microbe interactions,are all highly complex and will benefit considerably from the integration in a systems biology approach. Biologists now have the tools at hand to view the global behaviour of their preferred model systems and to better select the genes that are likely to play key roles in the regulation of entire processes. Furthermore, new developments in the cloning of open reading frames, promoters and the making of constructs to perturb gene expression will considerably help to functionally analyse the genes of interest. Systems biology requires the integration of three disciplines: bioinformatics and computational biology to model networks; functional genomics to develop and implement tools for the high-throughput analysis of biological systems; and last but not least biologists to ask the relevant questions and to develop the right material to answer them.

The Europe phytochemicals & plant extracts market is estimated to grow from $833.7 million in 2014 to $1.25 billion by 2019, at a CAGR of 8.4% during the period under consideration in system biology

Comparison of the order of blocks within the different cereal chromosomes revealed that each cereal genome can be derived from the cleavage of a single structure, a hypothetical ‘ancestral’ genome, from which the genomes of present day cereals and grasses have evolved. The rice genome is one of the smallest among the cereals and grasses, and in 1995, we demonstrated that rice could be a model for cereals based on this ‘synteny’ because its genome can be divided into groups of genes - a series of genomic building blocks - from which the other larger cereal genomes can be constructed. The genome analysis will also help in our efforts for improvement of staple foods for yield and quality, which is a continuous process because neither the conditions of cultivation nor the genomes have to be targeted to the need of adaptations to a variety of biotic and abiotic stresses. Functional food components vary across the cereal crops and within different tissues of grain. Wild germplasm is another untapped resource of useful genetic variation in the functional food compounds.

The global market for biopesticides was valued at $1,796.56 Million in 2013 and is expected to reach $4,369.88 Million by 2019, growing at a CAGR of 16.0% from 2014 to 2019. North America dominated the global biopesticides market. Europe is expected to be the fastest growing market in the near future owing to the stringent regulation for pesticides and increasing demand from organic products.

Plants are extremely important in the lives of people throughout the world. People depend upon plants to satisfy such basic human needs as food, clothing, shelter, and health care. These needs are growing rapidly because of a growing world population, increasing incomes, and urbanization.  Approximately 2.5 billion people in the world still rely on subsistence farming to satisfy their basic needs, while the rest are tied into increasingly complex production and distribution systems to provide food, fiber, fuel, and other plant-derived commodities. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the world population was about one billion in 1800, doubled to two billion in 1930, doubled again to four billion in 1975, and reached six billion people in 2000. World population is expected to be nine billion by the year 2050. The challenge to satisfy human needs and wants still exists. According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, the estimated export value of major plant commodities traded in world markets for 1998 was: rice ($9.9 billion dollars), maize ($9.1 billion), wheat ($15.1 billion), soybeans ($9 billion), coffee greens and roast ($13.7 billion), sugar ($5.9 billion), tobacco ($24.1 billion), cigarettes ($15.4 billion), lint cotton ($8.2 billion), forest products ($123 billion), and forest pulp for paper ($13 billion). The study of plant uses by people is termed economic botany or ethnobotany; some consider economic botany to focus on modern cultivated plants, while ethnobotany focuses on indigenous plants cultivated and used by native peoples. Human cultivation of plants is part of agriculture, which is the basis of human civilization. Plant agriculture is subdivided into agronomy, horticulture and forestry.

According to a new market study published by Transparency Market Research (TMR), titled “Agricultural Biotechnology Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast, 2013 - 2019”, the global agricultural biotechnology market was worth US$15,300 million in 2012 and is expected to be worth US$28,694.1 million by 2019, expanding at a 9.5% CAGR from 2013 to 2019.Growing population worldwide has led to demand for genetically modified (GM)crops for high yield, which is one of the primary drivers for the growth of the agricultural biotechnology market. Increasing demand for biofuels due to depleting reserves of conventional fuels is further boosting the agricultural biotechnology market.

Bioinformatics has its roots vaguely seated in the early 1980s, a time when personal computers began appearing in research laboratories and researchers began recognizing that those computers could be used as tools to organize, analyze and visualize their data. rogress and interest in plant genomics have been accelerating since the time in late 2000 when the genome of Arabidopsis thaliana was published. Since then many genome sequencing projects have been undertaken that include poplar (Populus), grape (Vitis), the moss Physcomitrella, the biflagellate algae Chlamydomonasand several globally crucial crop plants such as corn (Maize) and rice (Oryza). However, as we have witnessed on numerous occasions, determining the sequence of a genome is only the first step toward understanding genome organization, gene structure, gene expression patterns, disease pathogenesis and a host of other features of both scientific and commercial interests. Computational tools of genomic annotation and comparative genomics must be applied to gain a useful understanding of any genome. Drug designing by the use of bioinformatics tools and software is on the height. Now-a-days CADD (Computer-Aided Drug Design) is very much helpful in discovering new drug. In plant biology, these tools are helpful in improving crop, improving nutrition quality. It also helps in studying medicinal plants with the help of proteomics, genomics, transcriptomics, and helps in improving the quality of traditional medicinal material. Genomics helps in providing massive information to improve the crop phenotype. Bioinformatics have tools to analyze biological sequences like DNA, RNA and protein sequences.

TSB is working with its partners in Northern Ireland and Scotland to make £2.75 million ($4.6 million) available to small businesses involved with bioinformatics and other sectors. The cash will be divvied up into £50,000 to £150,000 awards to help startups run feasibility studies. The global bioinformatics market is estimated to reach $4.2 billion by the end in 2014 and is poised to reach $13.3 billion by 2020 at a CAGR of 20.9% from 2015 to 2020. In 2015, North America is expected to account for the largest share of the bioinformatics market, followed by Europe. Both markets are estimated to register double-digit growth rates over the next five years.

Single-cell approaches stand poised to revolutionise our capacity to understand the scale of genomic, epigenomic, and transcriptomic diversity that occurs during the lifetime of an individual organism. Here, we review the major technological and biological breakthroughs achieved, describe the remaining challenges to overcome, and provide a glimpse into the promise of recent and future developments.