This book compiles the fundamental advances resulting from of oil-palm genome and transcriptome sequencing, and describes the challenges faced and strategies applied in sequencing, assembling and annotating oil palm genome sequences. The availability of genome and transcriptome data has made the mining of a high number of new molecular markers useful for genetic diversity as well as marker-trait association studies and the book presents high-throughput genotyping platforms, which allow the detection of QTL regions associated with interesting oil palm traits such as oil unsaturation and yield components using classical genetic and association mapping approaches. Lastly, it also presents the discovery of major genes governing economically important traits of the oil palm.

Covering the history of oil palm expansion, classical and molecular cytogenetics, improvements based on wild and advanced genetic materials, and the science of oil palm breeding, the book is a valuable resourcefor scientists involved in plant genetic research.

Oil palm : History and importance Taxonomy, center of diversity, center of origin, history of economic expansion.- Wild and advanced resources Genetic resources, breeding populations for E. guineensis and E. oleifera.- Cytogenetics Classical and molecular cytogenetics.- Classical Genetics and Conventional Plant Breeding Oil palm breeding techniques, oil palm breeding scheme (Modified RRS, backcrossing). Challenges faced in conventional oil palm breeding programs.- Oil Palm tissue culture- fast tracking elite commercial lines Improving cloning efficiency Overcoming abnormality issues observed in clonally propagated palms.- Oil palm transgenic research Challenges, update and future outlook.- Towards oil palm genome sequencing, assembly and annotation Highlights on the limitations of conventional breeding, tissue culture and transgenic research and requirement of genome sequences Challenges, approaches and strategies applied.- Molecular evolution Genetic diversity based on sequencingand analysis with molecular markers (SSRs and SNPs) Looking at evolution via chloroplast and mitochondrial genome analysis.- Identifying genes influencing monogenically inherited traits (shell& fruit colour genes).- Dissecting complex traits via conventional QTL analysis and Association mapping QTLs detected : FAC, height, yield, bunch components.