Getting the ‘MOST’ out of crop improvement

• We propose ‘molecular strengthening’ (MOST) to improve crop performance.
• MOST treatments help to maximize trait expression for any given genotype and counteract environmental conditions.
• Detailed molecular genetic information is essential for development of MOST treatments.
• MOST treatments can be combined with current breeding methods like marker aided selection, transgenics, and genomic selection.

Unraveling the function of genes affecting agronomic traits is accelerating due to progress in DNA sequencing and other high-throughput genomic approaches. Characterized genes can be exploited by plant breeders by using either marker-aided selection (MAS) or transgenic procedures. Here, we propose a third ‘outlet’, ‘molecular strengthening’ (MOST), as alternative option for exploiting detailed molecular understanding of trait expression, which is comparable to the pharmaceutical treatment of human diseases. MOST treatments can be used to enhance yield stability. Alternatively, they can be used to control traits temporally, such as flowering time to facilitate crosses for plant breeders. We also discuss the essence for developing MOST treatments, their prospects, and limitations.