Details for Draft genome sequence of chickpea (Cicer arietinum) provides a resource for trait improvement

Varshney RK, Song C, Saxena RK, Azam S, Yu S, Sharpe AG, Cannon S, Baek J, Rosen BD, Tar'an B, Millan T, Zhang X, Ramsay LD, Iwata A, Wang Y, Nelson W, Farmer AD, Gaur PM, Soderlund C, Penmetsa RV, Xu C, Bharti AK, He W, Winter P, Zhao S, Hane JK, Carrasquilla-Garcia N, Condie JA, Upadhyaya HD, Luo M-C, Thudi M, Gowda CLL, Singh NP, Lichtenzveig J, Gali KK, Rubio J, Nadarajan N, Dolezel J, Bansal KC, Xu X, Edwards D, Zhang G, Kahl G, Gil J, Singh KB, Datta SK, Jackson SA, Wang J & Cook DR (2013). Draft genome sequence of chickpea (Cicer arietinum) provides a resource for trait improvement. Nature Biotechnology (2013). (DOI:10.1038/nbt.2491).

Chickpea (Cicer arietinum) is the second most widely grown legume crop after soya bean, accounting for a substantial proportion of human dietary nitrogen intake and playing a crucial role in food security in developing countries. We report the ~738-Mb draft whole genome shotgun sequence of CDC Frontier, a kabuli chickpea variety, which contains an estimated 28,269 genes. Resequencing and analysis of 90 cultivated and wild genotypes from ten countries identifies targets of both breeding-associated genetic sweeps and breeding-associated balancing selection. Candidate genes for disease resistance and agronomic traits are highlighted, including traits that distinguish the two main market classes of cultivated chickpea—desi and kabuli. These data comprise a resource for chickpea improvement through molecular breeding and provide insights into both genome diversity and domestication.

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