The African Eggplant

Abstract

AbstractThe African eggplant (Solanum aethiopicum L.) is a promising nutritious African vegetable that is also grown in South and Central America and certain parts of Italy and France. There are four known cultivar groups of the African eggplant, which together with its progenitor, Solanum anguivi, form the hypervariable scarlet eggplant complex. Despite its importance as food, medicine, and source of disease resistance genes, there has been limited research investment in the improvement of the African eggplant and it remains an orphan crop. We review the botanical description of the cultivar groups, the available genetic and genomic resources, and the germplasm conservation efforts within the primary and secondary genepools. We present the recently published draft genome sequence and make detailed comparisons of the genome with other genomes within the Solanaceae family. We further demonstrate the immediate utilization of the draft genome for gene discovery by retrieving orthologous seed dormancy candidate genes that can be characterized to improve this trait in the African eggplant. We finally provide evidence of why the African eggplant is underutilized and make some recommendations for future breeding, research investment, and marketing efforts that promise to enhance its utilization.KeywordsShumGiloAculeatumKumbaAnguiviOrphanDormancy