This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: An international team that includes researchers from Murdoch University's Centre for Crop and Food Innovation (CCFI) has built the most comprehensive genetic map of the peanut yet and used this new genomic resource to breed a higher-yielding dwarf peanut line. Led by the Shandong Academy of Agricultural Sciences in China and in collaboration with Murdoch University's Centre for Crop and Food Innovation, the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), Guangxi Academy of Agricultural Sciences, the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences and the Henan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, the research team developed a graph-based pan-genome for cultivated peanut and used it to resequence 2,320 accessions from 87 countries and regions.
Their findings were published in Nature Genetics. Peanuts feed hundreds of millions of people and are a critical source of protein and cooking oil in South Asia and Africa. However, severe genetic bottlenecks during peanut evolution and domestication have resulted in narrow genetic diversity, long hindering crop improvement efforts.
To resolve this challenge, the research team assembled 10 new reference-quality genomes and combined them with four published assemblies, covering all six botanical varieties of cultivated peanut. They then sequenced the DNA of 2,320 peanut accessions collected from 87 countries and regions using the new reference. The panel covers most of ICRISAT's core germplasm collection and well over half of the USDA's, representing the genetic breadth of the world's two largest peanut germplasm holdings.
The researchers uncovered two important genes. The first controls where flowers are produced, which determines the shape of the plant and how its pods are set. The second sits inside a large chromosome segment that had physically swapped positions with another chromosome—the reason it had escaped detection in previous sequencing efforts.
The researchers found that silencing this gene reduced plant height and internode length, opening up opportunities to develop dwarf varieties. Using the new map, the researchers crossed a naturally dwarf peanut with a high-yielding Chinese variety and selected offspring carrying the best combination of genes. The resulting line, LuAi-1, is roughly half the height of the parent variety but yielded around 20% more in the team's field trials when planted densely.
In a statement, CCFI Director and co-corresponding author of the study Professor Rajeev Varshney FRS FAA explained, "The development of semi-dwarf wheat and rice varieties drove the Green Revolution and saved the lives of millions of people across the world, because compact plants tend to be sturdier, can be grown closer together on smaller plots, and are easier to harvest by machine. However, peanuts have never had an equivalent. This research demonstrates that it's not only possible to develop dwarf varieties, it's possible to dramatically enhance peanut yield." Pro-Vice Chancellor and Director of the Food Futures Institute Professor Peter Davies added, "This research project has direct implications for millions of smallholder farmers in Africa and Asia, where every yield increase paves the way toward more food-secure outcomes.
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