Plant Biology & Agricultural Sciences

Plant genetics is the study of heredity in plants, specifically the mechanisms of hereditary transmission and variation in heritable traits. Plant genetics differs from animal genetics in several ways: somatic mutations can contribute to the germline more easily because flowers appear at the end of branches based on somatic cells; polyploidy is more common; and plants also have chloroplast DNA.

Genome size, gene content, extent of repetitive sequences, and polyploidy/duplication events are the best ways to define plant genomes. It seeks to sequence, characterize and investigate the genetic composition, structures, organization, functions and interactions/networks of the complete plant genome. Plants also have mitochondrial and chloroplast genomes, but their nuclear genome is the largest and most complex. Plant genomics is critical to food security, human health and environmental sustainability