Chinese woad （Isatis indigotica Fort.， 2n=14； Radix Isatidis） is the traditional Chinese medicinal plant widely used in China， and serves as the germplasm resources in crop genetic improvement. This article reviews the progresses in the genomic structure， bioactive compounds and their biosynthesis， as well as distant hybridization with other crop species. The genome size of Chinese woad is about 300 Mb with the tPCK karyotype and 30，000 protein coding genes， and the high quality reference genome reveals the candidate genes and synthesis pathways for main bioactive compounds， indole alkaloids， phenylpropanoids and terpenoids. Through making crosses （male parent） with Brassica rapa and B. napus， the non-classical hybrids containing few chromosomes and fragments of Chinese woad are produced. The somatic hybrids with radish were found with chromosomes of both parents， while they failed to produce seeds by either selfing or backcrossing. The somatic hybrids with B. rapa ssp. chinensis （L.） P. Hanelt show its duplicated chromosomes but male fertile. The somatic hybrids with B. napus derive the whole set of rapeseed-woad additional lines， after successive backcrossing with B. napus. Several lines， if compared to the woad， showed improved resistance against many viruses. The recombinant mitochondria DNA molecule produced during the somatic fusion causes the new cytoplasmic male sterility， and the fertility restoration is realized by the introgression of the gene（s） from one particular chromosome of woad. Finally， we discuss the future genetic study and their utilization based on their novel additional lines.