Review: The era of panomics-driven gene discovery in plants

Panomics, an approach integrating multiple ‘omics’ datasets such as genomics, transcriptomics, metabolomics, and phenomics, has seen rapid advancement in recent years due to technological improvements, particularly in genomics. This review focuses on the recent developments in panomics-driven gene discovery and its application in plant breeding and development, particularly for enhancing stress tolerance, specialized metabolite accumulation, and rediscoveries. Pangenomics, which involves representing a species’ genome derived from diverse cultivars, plays a significant role in gene discovery and mining, while recent advances have facilitated the detection of population-wide structural variations. These tools offer great potential for wider application in plant breeding, aiding in the understanding of domestication and facilitating the reintroduction of eliminated advantageous traits, a process known as redomestication. Furthermore, ongoing developments, such as the identification of pan-miRNA and other noncoding RNA, promise to broaden our understanding of miRNA/mRNA regulatory modules. Additionally, panomics addresses the complexities presented by polyploid genomes, accelerates the integration of understudied crops into the genomic era, and bridges the gap between cultivated crops and their wild counterparts. (Summary by Villő Bernád) Trends Plant Sci. 10.1016/j.tplants.2024.03.007