Climate Change Genomics in South America

Plant breeders face old and new challenges everyday. To release new cultivars with increased yield potential is an old challenge that breeders have to face since the demand for food due to increases in the global human population is constant. New challenges come from biotic and abiotic stresses affecting crops due to changes in the global climate. In Brazil and in South America in general, effects of flooding, drought, cold, salinity and metal toxicity (iron and aluminum) on crop yield are some of the major causes keeping yields to elevate their plateaus. The initiatives aiming to mitigate climate change effects on crop yield, by generating novel genotypes with more resilient properties are discussed. Functional genomics followed by genome-editing tools should pave the way to produce better crops in the near future.