Molecular markers: actual and potential contributions to wheat genome characterization and breeding

The demands for increasing global crop production have prompted the development of new approaches relying on molecular marker technologies to investigate and improve the plant genome. The merits of molecular markers make them valuable tools in a range of research areas. This review describes novel approaches based on modern molecular marker technologies for characterization and utilization of genetic variation for wheat improvement. Large-scale genome characterization by DNA-fingerprinting has revealed no declining trends in the molecular genetic diversity in wheat as a consequence of modern intensive breeding thus opposing the genetic 'erosion' hypothesis. A great number of important major genes and quantitative trait loci have been mapped with molecular markers. Marker-assisted selection based on a tight linkage between a marker allele and a gene(s) governing a qualitative or quantitative trait is gaining considerable importance as it facilitates and accelerates cultivar improvement through precise transfer of chromosome regions carrying the gene of interest. The implementations of molecular markers in wheat genotyping, mapping and breeding complemented by specific approaches associated with the complex polyploid nature of common wheat are analyzed and presented.