Genomics‐assisted lentil breeding: Current status and future strategies

Shiv Kumar,Rajeev K Varshney,Michael Baum,Jitendra Kumar,Debjyoti Sen Gupta

doi:10.1002/leg3.71

Abstract

AbstractGenomics‐assisted breeding has become a powerful tool to develop high‐yielding climate‐resilient varieties for adaptation to adverse environmental conditions such as heat and drought stresses. Previously, efforts have been made to develop genomic resources in lentil, leading to the development of many trait‐specific mapping populations, cores and mini‐cores, and single nucleotide polymorphism and simple sequence repeat markers. Molecular markers have been used in genetic diversity analyses and to clarify genetic relationships in lentil. However, availability of cost‐effective next‐generation sequencing and genotyping‐by‐sequencing technologies has provided unprecedented opportunities for advancing genetics research and breeding applications. For instance, it has become possible to assemble the large and complex genome, develop high‐density genetic maps for high‐resolution QTL mapping, and deploy genome‐wide association study in lentil. Furthermore, a range of cost‐effective marker genotyping platforms have been developed. These developments offer ample opportunities to modernize current breeding programs in lentil for accelerating genetic gains. This review discusses the current status and future possibilities of genomics‐assisted breeding to develop and deploy lentil cultivars suitable for changing climatic conditions.

Highlights

Further reduction in the cost of sequencing has led to the development of a greater number of high-density linkage maps based only on single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers in lentil (Aldemir et al, 2017; Bhadauria, Ramsay, et al, 2017; Gujarai-Verma et al, 2014; Ma et al, 2020; Polanco et al, 2019; Sudheesh, Rodda, et al, 2016; Temel et al, 2014)
Lentil (Lens culinaris Medik.) is a self-pollinated legume crop belonging to family Fabaceae with a diploid chromosome number of 2n = 2X = 14 and genome size of 4 Gbp (Ogutcen, Ramsay, von Wettberg, & Bett, 2018)
This study identified the routes of introduction of lentil cultivation in Mediterranean countries after domestication and showed that selection activities are responsible for further shaping the population structure (Pavan et al, 2019)

Summary

Introduction

Further reduction in the cost of sequencing has led to the development of a greater number of high-density linkage maps based only on SNP markers in lentil (Aldemir et al, 2017; Bhadauria, Ramsay, et al, 2017; Gujarai-Verma et al, 2014; Ma et al, 2020; Polanco et al, 2019; Sudheesh, Rodda, et al, 2016; Temel et al, 2014). These candidate genes can be used for different purposes including identification of genes for pathway-specific expression analysis, genetic modification approaches, development of resources for genotypic analysis, and assistance in the annotation of a future lentil genome sequence and can be useful for developing diagnostic functional markers for breeding.

Results

Conclusion