Centre for Plant Success Webinar Series: Shunichiro Tomura and Taylor Wass

Shunichiro Tomura

Ensemble approach for genomic prediction in crop breeding

The application of genomic prediction has increased genetic gain in crop breeding. However, further acceleration across varying environments is required to meet the increasing yield demand. One bottleneck has been a low selection accuracy in genomic prediction models. A variety of models have been developed and evaluated, revealing that their prediction performance remains low and none of them have consistently outperformed others. Other approaches need to be proposed to mitigate such issues, and our research investigates the power of ensembles of multiple prediction models. Conceptually, by combining information for prediction captured by each model, more comprehensive information can be formed as “a collection of wisdoms”, expected to raise prediction performance. We naïvely averaged prediction results from each model, and despite the simplicity, the ensemble approach outperformed other models demonstrating that there is a potential that ensemble modelling approaches can enhance prediction accuracy in crop breeding.

Taylor Wass

A Computational modelling approach to understand shoot architecture

While network structures underpinning determinants of plant architecture have been comprehensively elucidated in the literature, information is lacking regarding how the interplay of these networks and their components translates into the expression of the plant in 3D space. Traditional models of plant architecture fail to consider the physiological context of a given organ when applying growth rules, and as such are unable to portray phenotypic plasticity.

Using an integrative approach featuring our in-house network simulation package PSoup, in concert with functional-structural plant modelling, we aim to develop a platform capable of dynamically representing the state of determinants of plant architecture, such as hormone fluxes or carbon allocation, and applying growth rules based on their values in 3D space. The emergent properties of these models can be used to inform crop models and guide the design of experiments to further understand the mechanisms governing shoot architecture traits, such as branching and flowering.

This event is open to Centre Members only. If you are a Centre Member who would like to attend, please contact admin@plantsuccess.org for the Zoom invitation.