Breakthrough May Lead to Peanut Varieties with Better Pod and Oil Yield
In a scientific breakthrough that promises accelerated gene discovery and development of improved peanut (also known as groundnut) cultivars, researchers have completed high quality sequencing of the ancestral genomes of the crop. This will lead to better peanut varieties with enhanced pod and oil yield, greater disease resistance, drought and heat tolerance and oil quality. The breakthrough was made by researchers of The International Peanut Genome Initiative (IPGI) led by the University of Georgia in the US (UGA) and published recently online inNature Genetics, a leading high impact factor journal in the area of genetics, genomics, and biotechnology. The researchers traced the roots of the original wild genomes of, Arachis duranensis (V14167, A-genome ancestor) and A.ipaensis (K30076, B-genome ancestor) to a wild plant from Bolivia, which is a “living relic” of the prehistoric origins of the cultivated peanut species.
Alby Headrick