Changing environment, changing genes: insights from weed genetics and genomics

This generation of scientists is living through the genomics revolution. While this revolution has been slower to reach weed science than some other disciplines, genome sequences ecode essential information for meeting the challenges that the agricultural system needs to withstand. Sequencing weed genomes can provide insights into past and current evolutionary processes, allow us to determine the genetic basis of key traits, and to understand the current connections among populations informing effective management strategies. Weed genomics, therefore, can be the factor that allows us to address the chronic challenge represented by the evolution of herbicide resistance because it provides the basis for understanding how weed genomes have changed with their changing environment.