Hosted by Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and CIP-China Center for Asia Pacific (CCCAP), the 60^th Interdisciplinary Forum was successfully held on September 19, 2014 at the Shanghai Institute for Advanced Studies, CAS. Academician Zhihong Xu served as the chairman for the meeting. More than 40 experts and scholars from different institutions engaged in root and tuber crop research as well as the representatives of CCCAP were attended. The forum themes, including how to use omics technology to promote study of important agronomic traits, exploration of important genes and mechanism of important trait development, were fully discussed during the meeting.

      China is the world’s biggest producer of root and tuber crops. Potato, sweet potato and cassava play very important roles in promoting agriculture industrialization, but their basic research as compared to ‘major crops’ such as rice and maize is much retarded due to difficulty in molecular study and breeding. Therefore, by focusing on the common and special scientific questions faced by production and research of root and tuber crops, the conference participants presented and discussed all aspects ranging from genomics, molecular biology, biotechnology and molecular breeding. The knowledge related with the trait development and exploration of key genes has been increased, which ultimately provides the theoretical basis and tools for improved yield and quality in these crops.

      Speakers reported their progresses in studying of functional genomics, root/tuber development, starch metabolism and source-sink relationship, biotic and abiotic resistance, post-harvest storage, etc. The forum provided the direct platform to researchers engaged in root and tuber crops for information exchange and learning opportunities, thereby promoting co-operation among different research communities. Prof. Jirong Huang, the Principle Investigator of the 973 project ‘Specific nutrient quality evaluation, formation mechanism and molecular improvement in crops’, was invited to give a special talk on the meeting.