Genetic improvement of crop plants by mutation techniques in Korea

In Korea, mutation breeding in crops was started in the early 1960s. Although mutation breeding method has not been used heavily for the development of plant varieties and genetic resources, more than 30 varieties have been released since then. These mutant varieties released in Korea were mostly food and oilseed crops, and the major target was to improve agronomic traits such as yield, lodging tolerance, early maturity, or multi-disease resistance, etc. Additionally, horticultural crops including the rose of Sharon were improved to have a unique flower color and shape, dwarf-type height, or leaf stripes. Most of the varieties developed in the past were selected after exposing seed materials to radiation or chemical mutagens. Since the mid-1990s, the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) has adopted new biotechnologies (such as tissue culture, in vitro selection, doubled haploids, molecular makers, sequence analysis of genes for marker development, genomics tools, etc.) which have been integrated with traditional mutation breeding methods to achieve wider mutant spectra and higher selection efficiency. Currently mutant libraries of rice, soybean, and other horticultural crops are in the processes of collecting more mutants, characterizing visual and molecular features and depositing the accumulated data, which will be a valuable resource for genetic and genomic studies. Government support was provided to construct a radiation-specific research center, Advanced Radiation Technology Institute (ARTI) in KAERI, which has essential facilities for mutation breeding and irradiation. Along with the traditional breeding approaches, a mutation breeding program, driven mostly by the ARTI, is ready to play a key role in the advancement of radiation applications to a wide range of basic and applied sciences, including the improvement of diverse plant varieties in Korea. (author)