人工智能——推动植物研究发展的新动力

Artificial intelligence:advancing plant research beyond the state of the art

从20世纪40年代至今,人工智能(artificial Intelligence,AI)及其相关智能系统的发展经历了多次起伏,在过去20年对AI的应用开始步入快速发展的阶段。本文首先介绍了AI发展简史,包括其理论形成、基础算法、分类定义和发展趋势。然后,针对流行的AI开发框架和技术算法及其在植物研究各领域中的应用进行了概述,例如基因挖掘和分子育种、病虫害检测预防、作物栽培和农业生产等。为发挥AI技术对生物大数据的解析优势,本文着重讨论了AI的创新应用并展示了笔者所在的中国和英国联合实验室与此相关的部分最新研究进展,以期为AI技术在中国植物研究中的推广抛砖引玉、集思广益。

Since the 1940s,artificial intelligence(AI)and its related research and development(R&D)have experienced several waves of ups and downs.Nevertheless,in the past two decades,AI-related applications have entered a rapid development phase.Here,we first introduced a brief history of AI and its past and present research activities,including theoretical advances,essential algorithms,research techniques,and recent development trends.Then,we presented some popular AI development frameworks and algorithms together with their applications in a spectrum of plant research areas such as molecular breeding and gene discovery,pests and diseases detection,agronomic services,and agricultural production.To derive the maximum benefits of AI in big data-driven biological research,we also discussed a range of innovative use cases of AI-driven plant research activities,as well as some latest AI-related developments in the author’s China-UK laboratory.As an old Chinese saying goes,“casting a brick and attracting jade”,we hope this review article could stimulate constructive comments and discussions on this trendy topic,which are likely to be beneficial for Chinese plant researchers and their ongoing and future work.