Comparative Genomics of Soybean and Other Legumes

Abstract

Comparative genomics is the leveraging of genomic data between species to understand the evolution of genomes and species. With the increasing availability of genomics resources (genomes, transcriptomes, epigenomes, proteomes, etc.), opportunities exist to explore species relationships using comparative genomics. Comparative genomics is most commonly used to determine structural and functional variation between genomes. Traditional approaches that study genomes in isolation are limiting in both the kind of questions that can be answered, as well as the transferability of knowledge between species. Herein, we will address the recent advances in comparative genomics research, specifically in legumes, and how this wealth of knowledge can further expand our understanding of biological diversity. Comparative genomics can be performed at the genic or at genomic level, for which there are numerous workflows to exploit, including gene prediction and annotation, orthologous gene relationships, building gene and species phylogenetic trees, synteny, finding lineage specific genes, and pan-genomic analyses.