Global Trends in Plant Genomics Research to Improve Crop Productivity at PAG XXIV Conference

Increasing demand for food commodities and energy supply highlight the necessity to further improve crop productivity. At the Plant and Animal Genome Conference (PAG XXIV), recent developments and future plans for genomics research of plants and animals were presented. PAG XXIV provided a forum to explore crop genomes with the aim of providing new opportunities for crop breeding and the foundation for functional genomic studies to improve agriculture production and help feed the growing population. Genetic diversity and population structure studies of crops have allowed us to explore alleles related to different characteristics important for plant breeding. Several useful databases were introduced in PAG XXIV. They were developed to integrate a growing set of commonly used data types and analysis tools with new capabilities for visualization, exploration, and predictive analysis. This review highlights the global trends in plant genomics presented at PAG XXIV by focusing on crop productivity.