Insights from 292 pigeonpea genomes ($)

Pigeonpea (Cajanus cajan) is a widely-grown tropical legume domesticated in India about 3500 years ago. Yields have plateaued, and there is evidence for a genetic bottleneck that limits breeding potential in the elite varieties. Varshney et al. resequenced nearly 300 pigeonpea accessions including modern cultivars, traditional landraces and wild species. From these data they identified more than 17 million variants, including many regions that show evidence of selection during domestication and breeding. Marker-trait associations for flowering time and seed yield also were identified.  Nature Genet. 10.1038/ng.3872