International Journal of Molecular Evolution and Biodiversity, 2025, Vol.15, No.2, 64-72 http://ecoevopublisher.com/index.php/ijmeb 64 Research Report Open Access Genomic Selection and Its Impact on Modern Potato Breeding JiongFu Hainan Provincial Key Laboratory of Crop Molecular Breeding, Sanya, 572000, Hainan, China Corresponding email: jiong.fu@hitar.org International Journal of Molecular Evolution and Biodiversity, 2025, Vol.15, No.2 doi: 10.5376/ijmeb.2025.15.0006 Received: 16 Jan., 2025 Accepted: 22 Feb., 2025 Published: 08 Mar., 2025 Copyright © 2025 Fu, This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Preferred citation for this article: Fu J., 2025, Genomic selection and its impact on modern potato breeding, International Journal of Molecular Evolution and Biodiversity, 15(2): 64-72 (doi: 10.5376/ijmeb.2025.15.0006) Abstract This study deeply explored the theoretical basis and methodological path of genomic selection (GS) technology, and comprehensively evaluated its transformation potential and practical application results in the field of potato breeding. Based on multi-level data integration, the study clearly revealed the remarkable achievements of GS in increasing tuber yield, optimizing nutritional quality and enhancing disease resistance. In multiple breeding systems around the world, GS has shown irreplaceable advantages: it not only effectively shortens the breeding cycle, but also significantly improves the prediction accuracy of target traits, and has the ability to improve multiple traits at the same time. Especially in the context of the complex tetraploid and highly heterozygous genome of potato, GS technology has successfully broken through the technical bottleneck of traditional breeding in late blight resistance and greatly improved the breeding efficiency of excellent varieties. The study also analyzed the value of seed industry innovation promoted by GS technology. The results showed that the promotion of new varieties bred by GS not only significantly increased the economic benefits of farmers, but also achieved an effective reduction in the amount of pesticide application, injecting new momentum into the development of green agriculture. With the continuous optimization of artificial intelligence algorithms and the in-depth integration of multi-omics data, GS technology is moving towards a higher level of intelligent and precise development. This study has laid a solid scientific foundation for promoting the large-scale deployment of GS in potato breeding, and also provided a clear direction and strategic support for the modernization transformation of the traditional breeding system. Keywords Genomic selection; Potato breeding; Genomic data; Disease-resistant breeding; Seed industry innovation 1 Introduction Genomic selection (GS) technology is reshaping the paradigm of modern plant breeding. This breakthrough technology predicts breeding value through whole-genome marker analysis, which completely changes the traditional breeding model that relies on phenotypic screening (Sverrisdóttir et al., 2018). For potatoes with complex genetic structure, GS shows unique advantages: it can accurately identify the optimal parent combination, realize early selection without phenotypic data support, and increase genetic gain by more than 40%. The innovation of genotyping technology has cleared the obstacles for the popularization of GS, and the significant reduction in costs has made its application in allotetraploid crops such as potatoes a reality (Slater et al., 2016). As the world's third largest staple food crop, potato has become one of the key crops to ensure global food security due to its excellent yield potential and rich nutritional value. However, its tetraploid genetic structure and highly heterozygous genetic background bring natural complexity to genetic improvement (Martins et al., 2023). Traditional breeding methods often have a long cycle, often taking more than ten years, and it is difficult to meet the current urgent need for efficient variety updates (Poudel & Thapa, 2021). Against the backdrop of increasingly severe climate change, accelerating the cultivation of new varieties with high yield, high quality and strong stress resistance has become the core task of current agricultural development (Tiwari et al., 2022). In this context, genomic selection (GS) technology is considered to be a powerful tool to address the bottleneck of potato breeding. With the integration and utilization of whole genome information, GS can achieve simultaneous prediction and improvement of multiple complex traits in the early selection stage, greatly improving the efficiency of breeding. Compared with traditional methods, it shows higher selection accuracy and genetic gain in terms of yield improvement and disease resistance enhancement.
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