Editorial: Plant biodiversity and genetic resources: their utilization for crop improvement
Annotatsiya
As global agriculture faces unprecedented challenges-from climate change to food insecurity-plant 14 biodiversity and genetic resources have emerged as crucial assets for crop improvement. Harnessing 15 the genetic diversity of both cultivated plants and their wild relatives provides opportunities to 16 develop resilient crops and crop varieties capable of withstanding environmental stresses thereby 17 improving yields and ensuring yield stability. Depending on parental selection, the nutritional content 18 of crop varieties may also be improved. Recent advances in genomic tools, such as high-throughput 19 sequencing and bioinformatics, have enabled researchers to explore and utilize these genetic 20 resources more effectively. The application of genomics to fiber and oil crops such as cotton and flax continues to yield 72 promising results. In upland cotton, the identification of key genes involved in fiber elongation and 73 secondary cell wall biosynthesis has enabled researchers to develop molecular markers for improving 74 fiber quality and yield (He et al. The author declares no commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential 97 conflict of interest. 98