Varshney, R.K., Song, C., Saxena, R.K., Azam, S., Yu, S., Sharpe, A.G., Cannon, S., Baek, J., Rosen, B.D., Tar’an, B., Millan, T., Zhang, X., Ramsay, L.D., Iwata, A., Wang, Y., Nelson, W., Farmer, A.D., Gaur, P.M., Soderlund, C., Penmetsa, R.V., Xu, C., Bharti, A.K., He, W., Winter, P., Zhao, S., Hane, J.K., Carrasquilla-Garcia, N., Condie, J.A., Upadhyaya, H.D., Luo, M.-C., Thudi, M., Gowda, C.L.L., Singh, N.P., Lichtenzveig, J., Gali, K.K., Rubio, J., Nadarajan, N., Doležel, J., Bansal, K.C., Xu, X., Edwards, D., Zhang, G., Kahl, G., Gil, J., Singh, K.B., Datta, S.K., Jackson, S.A., Wang, J., Cook, D.R.
NATURE BIOTECHNOLOGY 31: 240-246, 2013

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Abstract: Chickpea (Cicer arietinum) is the second most widely grown legume crop after soybean, 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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IEB authors: Jaroslav Doležel