About the Cover
On the Cover: Grapes are both the most widely cultivated and economically important fruit crop in the world, providing a welcome source of juice, fresh and dried fruit, distilled liquor, and wine. In contrast to many other crops where genetic diversity is a tool for crop improvement, constancy of genotype or ining feature of wine grapes, with genetic uniformity maintained through vegetative propagation. As a consequence, crop management practices (i.e. viticulture) are key to maintaining quality characteristics, with particular emphasis on inputs that modify berry development and metabolism in desired ways. Genomics approaches are likely to have particular value for grape improvement because they have the potential to identify transcriptional, biochemical, and genetic pathways that contribute to agronomic properties and to an understanding of how viticulture impacts these pathways. The application of such knowledge to grape improvement is likely to take the form of improved viticultural practices, precise molecular breeding, and development of transgenic varieties. In this issue, the contribution of Goes da Silva et al. (pp. 574-597) provides an initial characterization of the grape transcriptome and the identification of approximately 700 differentially expressed transcripts spanning whole plant and berry development.
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Copyright © 2007 by the American Society of Plant Biologists
