Translational genomics and molecular breeding for enhancing precision and efficiency in crop improvement programs: Some examples in legumes

Abstract

Legumes like chickpea, pigeonpea and groundnut are protein rich, nutrient-dense, and nitrogen fixing crops. Their importance is increasingly recognized in view of the urgent need to address burgeoning malnutrition problem and to impart sustainability to cropping systems. Breeding programs in these crops have achieved great success. However, consistent improvement in genetic gains demands integration of innovative tools and technologies with crop breeding programs. Genomic resources are of paramount significance in context of improving the efficiency and precision of crop breeding schemes. The last decade has witnessed a remarkable success in generating unprecedented genomic resources in these crops, thus transforming these genomic orphans into genomic resource rich crops. These genomic resources include array-based genotyping platforms, high-resolution genetic linkage maps/HapMaps, comprehensive transcriptome assemblies and gene expression atlas, and whole genome sequences etc. Further progression from the training phase (development) to breeding (deployment) phase is marked with the current availability of a variety of molecular breeding products in these legume crops. In the present review, we discuss how deployment of the modern genomic resources such as next-generation gene discovery techniques and “gold standard experimental designs” is furthering our knowledge about the genetic underpinnings of trait variation. Also, key success stories demonstrating the power of molecular breeding in these legume crops are highlighted. It is opined that the breeding populations constantly improved by sequence-based breeding approach will greatly help improving breeding traits and the genetic gains accruable from crop breeding programs.