Identification of Genes Important for Host Plant Defense and Crop Pest Management.

This paper reviews on the recent development of crop genomics for studies of plant-pest interactions and functional understanding of plant defense responses against insect pests. Research in the life sciences in the post-genomics age is currently undergoing a dramatic transformation. Particularly, advances in understanding plant defense mechanisms have highlighted a complex, interacting network of signaling pathways leading to the induction of numerous resistance genes. Genome-scale methods are also revolutionizing the study of plant-pest interactions and are revealing a complex process (including direct resistance genes and important regulatory networks) involved in plant defense responses. The key components of genomics and functional genomics include QTL mapping and linkage analysis, genome sequencing and gene annotation, gene expression profiling, gene modification and regulation of expression, which can be readily applied to improve our understanding of host and pest interactions, virulent factors of pests, genetic mechanisms of host defense, and the regulatory aspects of expression of the host resistance. Thus, the discovery of novel genes, determination of their expression patterns in response to pest attack, and a better understanding of their roles in host defense will provide the bases of designing either new pest-resistant crops or more environmentally friendly pesticides for crop protection.