Nature Communications (Apr 2023)

Chromosome-level genome assembly and population genomic resource to accelerate orphan crop lablab breeding

  • Isaac Njaci,
  • Bernice Waweru,
  • Nadia Kamal,
  • Meki Shehabu Muktar,
  • David Fisher,
  • Heidrun Gundlach,
  • Collins Muli,
  • Lucy Muthui,
  • Mary Maranga,
  • Davies Kiambi,
  • Brigitte L. Maass,
  • Peter M. F. Emmrich,
  • Jean-Baka Domelevo Entfellner,
  • Manuel Spannagl,
  • Mark A. Chapman,
  • Oluwaseyi Shorinola,
  • Chris S. Jones

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-37489-7
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 14, no. 1
pp. 1 – 13

Abstract

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Abstract Under-utilised orphan crops hold the key to diversified and climate-resilient food systems. Here, we report on orphan crop genomics using the case of Lablab purpureus (L.) Sweet (lablab) - a legume native to Africa and cultivated throughout the tropics for food and forage. Our Africa-led plant genome collaboration produces a high-quality chromosome-scale assembly of the lablab genome. Our assembly highlights the genome organisation of the trypsin inhibitor genes - an important anti-nutritional factor in lablab. We also re-sequence cultivated and wild lablab accessions from Africa confirming two domestication events. Finally, we examine the genetic and phenotypic diversity in a comprehensive lablab germplasm collection and identify genomic loci underlying variation of important agronomic traits in lablab. The genomic data generated here provide a valuable resource for lablab improvement. Our inclusive collaborative approach also presents an example that can be explored by other researchers sequencing indigenous crops, particularly from low and middle-income countries (LMIC).