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Genomic resources for improving food legume crops

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 June 2011

J. KUMAR
Affiliation:
Division of Crop Improvement, Indian Institute of Pulses Research, Kanpur 208 024, India
A. PRATAP
Affiliation:
Division of Crop Improvement, Indian Institute of Pulses Research, Kanpur 208 024, India
R. K. SOLANKI
Affiliation:
Division of Crop Improvement, Indian Institute of Pulses Research, Kanpur 208 024, India
D. S. GUPTA
Affiliation:
Division of Crop Improvement, Indian Institute of Pulses Research, Kanpur 208 024, India
A. GOYAL*
Affiliation:
Agriculture and Agri Food Canada, Lethbridge Research Center, Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada
S. K. CHATURVEDI
Affiliation:
Division of Crop Improvement, Indian Institute of Pulses Research, Kanpur 208 024, India
N. NADARAJAN
Affiliation:
Division of Crop Improvement, Indian Institute of Pulses Research, Kanpur 208 024, India
S. KUMAR
Affiliation:
International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA), Aleppo, Syria
*
*To whom all correspondence should be addressed. Email: akgroyal@gmail.com;jitendra@gmail.com

Summary

Food legumes are the main source of dietary protein for a large part of the world's population, and also play an important role in maintaining soil fertility through nitrogen fixation. However, legume yields and production are often limited by large genotype×environment (G×E) interactions that influence the expression of agronomically important, complex quantitative traits. Consequently, genetic improvement has been slower than expected. Molecular marker technology enables genetic dissection of such complex traits, allowing breeders to identify genomic regions on the chromosome that have main effects or interactive effects. A number of genomic resources have been developed in several legume species during the last two decades, and provide a platform for exploiting marker technology. The present paper reviews the available genomic resources in food legumes: linkage maps, high-throughput sequencing technologies, expression sequence tag (EST) databases, genome sequences, DNA chips, targeting induced local lesions in genomes (TILLING), bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) libraries and others. It also describes how these resources are being used to tag and map genes/quantitative trait loci (QTLs) for domesticated and other agronomically important traits. This information is important to genetic improvement efforts aiming at improving food and nutrition security worldwide.

Information

Type
Crops and Soils Review
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

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