An international team of researchers has fully sequenced the genome of a climate-resilient bean that could bolster food security in drought-prone regions.
The plant’s adaptability suggests high genetic diversity, which means it’s possible to select different adaptive genotypes for different environments and climatic challenges. Yet lablab’s potential for genetic improvement to boost its productivity and facilitate wider cultivation – especially in drought-prone areas – has yet to be fully exploited.
The researchers identified the genomic location of important agronomic traits – traits relating to yield and seed/plant size. They documented the organisation of the trypsin inhibitor genes, which inhibit a key enzyme in the digestion process in humans. This provides opportunities for targeted breeding to reduce these anti-nutritional properties.
The lablab bean is one of a long list of “orphan crops”: indigenous species that play an important role in local nutrition and livelihoods, but that receive little attention from breeders and researchers. Oluwaseyi Shorinola, another of the study’s lead authors from the International Livestock Research Institute, and a visiting scientist at the John Innes Centre in the UK, comments: “The first green revolution was achieved with major crops like wheat and rice. Orphan crops like lablab could pave the way for the next green revolution.”
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