Identification of traits, genes, and crops of the future

Studies on vulnerability and resilience of forest plant communities and crop species have multiplied with the growing realization that societal and scientific response is necessary to adapt to climate change impacts. The DPSIR (Driving forces, Pressure, State, Impact, Response) conceptual framework provides one of the simplest structure of indicators required to connect and model the dynamic systems of the causative and correlative components of climate envelopes and the genetic and genomic complexities regulating adaptive plant response to fluctuating environments and climate. Paleoclimate and vegetation type reconstruction from fossil records and species vicariance help in understanding the long-term dynamics of plant features and trait evolution associated with dispersal and climate changes. Comparative genomics demonstrated as alleles for those plant features (i.e., plant morphology and phenophase alteration), and for biotic (response to bacterial and fungal pathogens) and abiotic (i.e., drought, flooding) stress resistance are still part of the standing genetic endowment of the living gene pools of the crop and forest plant species and allied wild relatives. The data gathered so far are beginning to offer important insights into the candidate genes and gene networks for resistance to pests and disease outbreaks favored by the changing climate, and tolerance to the perturbed climatic components such as air temperature. Genomic scans have resulted in some remarkable discoveries, including genes sensing the amount of fall and winter chilling hours affecting the annual plant rhythms such as bud dormancy break in trees, and the master genes for plant adaptation to the changing patterns of the annual distribution and intensity of rainfalls and consequent drought or flood hitting crops. Application of the current genetic discoveries and technological advances in genomics will allow the many long-standing questions about the nature of adaptation to be answered and assist with the implementation of innovative breeding methodologies for plant trait enhancement in forest plant communities and farmer’s fields to increase adaptive response and resilience to global warming.