Abstract

Many researchers work with molecular makers but usually we read separate articles covering specific and narrow fields of study. There are not many books dealing with certain types of markers and this gap in the knowledge in plant biology is much deeper compared to other areas of natural sciences. This book represents an interesting exception because it is only focused on one type of marker, known as CAPS. In the modern era of high-throughput technologies, such as nextgeneration sequencing and KASPar technology, there are many hundreds of laboratories working on a relatively small scale in plant biology. For these researchers, CAPS markers remain an extremely valuable and important tool for research and education. Thirteen chapters in this book are very diverse, covering a wide range of plants including the model Arabidopsis and ferns, to important crops such as oil-crops, peas, tomato, tobacco, grasses, barley, and wheat. Separate chapters deal with more exotic ramie plants, wild emmer wheat and microbes in the rhizosphere of terrestrial plants. All chapters have been collated together in a single volume with the topic of CAPS markers development and application. This book is an illustrative guide to the broad applications of DNA markers, from fundamental genome studies to practical breeding. Whereas single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers are more popular in human and animal research, CAPS markers have proven to be and remain very effective in many areas of plant biology. This book would be interesting to many students, teachers, researchers, and breeders working in different areas of biology and using or wanting to use molecular markers. Many chapters are excellent and describe how researchers can use CAPS in their study. The scientific impact of this book to the research and educational community can be expected to be very positive and highly significant with a piece of important work done by the editor and the contributors of each chapter.