International Journal of Molecular Ecology and Conservation, 2025, Vol.15, No.1, 1-8 http://ecoevopublisher.com/index.php/ijmec 6 Feng et al., 2024). These tools can enable us to breed better pineapples that not only taste good, but are also more disease-resistant and adaptable to more complex weather. This way, pineapples can be grown more stably, profitably, and sustainably around the world. 9 Challenges and Future Directions in Pineapple Breeding 9.1 Genetic bottlenecks and loss of diversity During the domestication and breeding process of pineapples, a lot of “heterozygosity” has emerged, that is, the genes are very inconsistent. Although this situation can bring some diversity, it also makes breeding more difficult (Sanewski, 2018; VanBuren, 2018). At present, there are very few wild genes introduced into modern pineapple varieties, which makes its genetic base very narrow. It becomes difficult to add new traits or improve existing characteristics. This problem is called "genetic bottleneck", which is a major obstacle in breeding work. 9.2 Improving pineapple traits with CRISPR and other tools Now there are some new technologies, such as CRISPR and molecular marker-assisted breeding, which can help us solve the genetic problems mentioned above. These tools can directly modify the genes of pineapples and accurately add desired traits, such as making the fruit sweeter or enhancing disease resistance. Moreover, these methods do not require repeated hybridization and are much more efficient (Zhou et al., 2015; Sanewski, 2018). At the same time, scientists have also established a complete reference genome, which is like a “gene map” that can help us find the areas that need to be modified more accurately (Feng et al., 2024). 9.3 Breeding strategies for climate change and disease Now, climate change has affected agriculture. In order to make pineapples grow well in various climates, breeding goals have also begun to focus on “climate adaptability” and “disease resistance”. One way is to find good genes that can still be used from wild pineapples and old varieties. Another way is to use genomic technology to screen out disease-resistant traits and then use them in new varieties (Ming et al., 2015; Zhu and Ming, 2019). In addition, pineapples themselves have a special photosynthesis method called CAM, which can save more water. Scientists hope to make this ability work better through genetic adjustment (Ming et al., 2015). 10 Conclusion and Perspectives We are now learning more and more about the pineapple genome. These studies tell us one thing: the domestication process of pineapple is much more complicated than we originally thought. It not only relies on sexual reproduction (that is, breeding in the traditional sense), but also makes extensive use of asexual reproduction (such as propagation by rhizomes or cuttings). These two methods together determine the appearance of pineapples today. By analyzing genes, scientists have discovered some particularly important variations. These variations may be related to the sweetness, fragrance, ripening time, fiber content, and heat and drought resistance of the fruit. In other words, when people grow pineapples, they inadvertently “select” these good traits. Through genome research, we can look back and see: which genes have changed, why they have changed, and what results these changes have brought. Next, the research on the pineapple genome can be further deepened. For example, we still need to figure out which genes control fruit quality and which are related to disease and insect resistance, high temperature resistance, and water conservation. These are all of particular concern in breeding. At the same time, gene editing technologies such as CRISPR are also developing rapidly, which allows us to modify genes more accurately without spending many years on generation after generation. This could greatly speed up the process of breeding new varieties. However, to breed better, we need a larger genetic database. Although there is genetic data for some common varieties, such as “MD2” and “Queen”, it is still not enough. If more wild species and local varieties can be sequenced, more useful genetic information can be found. This will not only help us breed, but also help protect the diversity of varieties.
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