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UCR researchers develop genetic map for cowpea, accelerating development of new varieties
October 14, 2009RIVERSIDE, Calif. - Cowpea, a protein-rich legume crop, is immensely important in many parts of the world, particularly drought-prone regions of Africa and Asia, where it plays a central role in the diet and economy of hundreds of millions of people.
Cowpea provides food that complements starchy staple crops such as corn, cassava, sorghum and millets to offer a well-rounded diet, much as beans and other grain legumes complement maize- and rice-based diets in Latin America and other places. Due to its hardy nature, cowpea plays a key role in sustaining food security for both people and their livestock.
But breeding new cowpea varieties with desirable traits, such as disease resistance, pest resistance and drought tolerance, is a time-consuming and laborious process that can take a decade from concept to release.
A challenge facing cowpea breeders, therefore, is how to accelerate the production of new and improved cowpea varieties in order to both meet the needs of a growing world population and provide the productivity gains needed by farmers to improve their economic standing.
Now a team of scientists at the University of California, Riverside has responded to this challenge by developing a high-density "consensus genetic map" of cowpea that accelerates conventional breeding severalfold and facilitates the production of new varieties of not only cowpea but also other legumes, particularly soybean and common bean (near relatives of cowpea).
To build the map, the scientists first modified and then applied advanced genetic tools developed from human genome investigations that only recently have been applied to a few major crop plants.
"The consensus map is a consolidation of six individual genetic maps of cowpea, and is far more representative of the cowpea genome than earlier maps," said team leader, Timothy Close, a professor of genetics in the Department of Botany and Plant Sciences. "We now have a reliable, powerful tool that marks a paradigm shift in crop-breeding technology."
Study results appear Oct. 13 in the online early edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The consensus genetic map of cowpea is a dense and detailed roadmap of its genome (a genome is a complete genetic blueprint). The map has approximately 1000 molecular markers throughout the genome. The markers, which are like signposts directing a motorist to a destination, are associated with traits desired for breeding and used to more deliberately design and assemble new superior varieties.
"All you need is a marker near a gene of interest," explained team member Philip Roberts, a professor in the Department of Nematology, who currently leads UCR's Bean/Cowpea and Dry Grain Pulses Collaborative Research Support Program - a highly successful project, supported by the U.S. Agency for International Development, that has assisted African institutes in developing improved cowpea varieties. "With a marker-based map we can look into any trait desired in cowpea. The resolution of the map is such that we can accurately locate the position of genes that are contributing in a major way to various traits we'd like to see built into new cowpea varieties."
Close explained that cowpea is closely related to soybean at the genome level, allowing for the kind of cross referencing that would have been unfeasible without the consensus genetic map.
"A good number of genes are conserved across species," he said. "By looking at a marker on a cowpea chromosome, we can cross reference it to information on, say, the soybean genome, based on the DNA sequences of the marker. This facilitates knowledge transfer between these species, so advances made in cowpea can be translated into valuable information for soybean, and vice versa. The result is a tremendous acceleration in marker development to support the breeding process."
Cowpea, which originated in Africa, also is commonly referred to as southern pea, blackeye pea, crowder pea, lubia, niebe, coupe or frijole. In the United States, cowpea is popular in the south, where it is known as black-eyed peas and other names. California primarily grows the blackeyed cowpea type.
"It took us nearly ten years to breed 'California Blackeye No. 50,' our newest blackeye cowpea variety for California growers, using conventional breeding methods," said Jeff Ehlers, a specialist in the Department of Botany and Plant Sciences with more than 20 years of experience conducting genetic research on cowpea in California and Africa. "With the new technologies and map information now at hand this could have been done in half this time. The new consensus map will greatly expand our ability to locate valuable genes and incorporate them into new varieties."
University of California - Riverside
A challenge facing cowpea breeders, therefore, is how to accelerate the production of new and improved cowpea varieties in order to both meet the needs of a growing world population and provide the productivity gains needed by farmers to improve their economic standing.
Now a team of scientists at the University of California, Riverside has responded to this challenge by developing a high-density "consensus genetic map" of cowpea that accelerates conventional breeding severalfold and facilitates the production of new varieties of not only cowpea but also other legumes, particularly soybean and common bean (near relatives of cowpea).
To build the map, the scientists first modified and then applied advanced genetic tools developed from human genome investigations that only recently have been applied to a few major crop plants.
"The consensus map is a consolidation of six individual genetic maps of cowpea, and is far more representative of the cowpea genome than earlier maps," said team leader, Timothy Close, a professor of genetics in the Department of Botany and Plant Sciences. "We now have a reliable, powerful tool that marks a paradigm shift in crop-breeding technology."
Study results appear Oct. 13 in the online early edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The consensus genetic map of cowpea is a dense and detailed roadmap of its genome (a genome is a complete genetic blueprint). The map has approximately 1000 molecular markers throughout the genome. The markers, which are like signposts directing a motorist to a destination, are associated with traits desired for breeding and used to more deliberately design and assemble new superior varieties.
"All you need is a marker near a gene of interest," explained team member Philip Roberts, a professor in the Department of Nematology, who currently leads UCR's Bean/Cowpea and Dry Grain Pulses Collaborative Research Support Program - a highly successful project, supported by the U.S. Agency for International Development, that has assisted African institutes in developing improved cowpea varieties. "With a marker-based map we can look into any trait desired in cowpea. The resolution of the map is such that we can accurately locate the position of genes that are contributing in a major way to various traits we'd like to see built into new cowpea varieties."
Close explained that cowpea is closely related to soybean at the genome level, allowing for the kind of cross referencing that would have been unfeasible without the consensus genetic map.
"A good number of genes are conserved across species," he said. "By looking at a marker on a cowpea chromosome, we can cross reference it to information on, say, the soybean genome, based on the DNA sequences of the marker. This facilitates knowledge transfer between these species, so advances made in cowpea can be translated into valuable information for soybean, and vice versa. The result is a tremendous acceleration in marker development to support the breeding process."
Cowpea, which originated in Africa, also is commonly referred to as southern pea, blackeye pea, crowder pea, lubia, niebe, coupe or frijole. In the United States, cowpea is popular in the south, where it is known as black-eyed peas and other names. California primarily grows the blackeyed cowpea type.
"It took us nearly ten years to breed 'California Blackeye No. 50,' our newest blackeye cowpea variety for California growers, using conventional breeding methods," said Jeff Ehlers, a specialist in the Department of Botany and Plant Sciences with more than 20 years of experience conducting genetic research on cowpea in California and Africa. "With the new technologies and map information now at hand this could have been done in half this time. The new consensus map will greatly expand our ability to locate valuable genes and incorporate them into new varieties."
University of California - Riverside
Cowpea Current Events and Cowpea News RSSScientists identify gene for resistance to parasitic 'witchweed'
The parasitic flowering plant Striga, or "witchweed," attacks the roots of host plants, draining needed water and nutrients and leaving them unable to grow and produce any grains.
Gene developed through conventional breeding to improve cowpea aphid resistance
The cowpea or black-eyed pea, as it is more commonly known, is a New Year's tradition for good luck. But disease and particularly aphids, which can wreck a crop within a few a days, are especially bad luck for the cowpea, according to scientists.
Arctic seed vault opens doors for 100 million seeds
The Svalbard Global Seed Vault opened today on a remote island in the Arctic Circle, receiving inaugural shipments of 100 million seeds that originated in over 100 countries.
Plants tag insect herbivores with an alarm
Rooted in place, plants can't run from herbivores—but they can fight back. Sensing attack, plants frequently generate toxins, emit volatile chemicals to attract the pest's natural enemies, or launch other defensive tactics.
Cowpeas could add sustainability to cropping systems
Ground left fallow in the High Plains to store soil moisture between crops may be better off with a legume crop such as cowpeas, according to a Texas Agricultural Experiment Station researcher.
Repel the aphids and you attract the leafhoppers
Things don`t always turn out as you expect when you play with genes AN ATTEMPT to make potato plants resistant to sap-sucking insects has highlighted the unpredictability of genetic engineering. The modified plants unexpectedly turned out to be vulnerable to other kinds of insect pests, demonstrating how important it is to assess each transgenic crop individually. Crops such as maize and cotton have already been made resistant to chewing insects by adding a gene for the bacterial toxin Bt. But Bt doesn`t deter sap-suckers like aphids, so genetic engineers are looking at other natural substances to keep insects at bay, such as the lectin prot
Sick Beans lead to Nanotech
Plant viruses as chemically "programmable" building blocks for nanobiotechnology Farmers get little joy from the cowpea mosaic virus, which attacks legumes. Chemists and molecular biologists at the Scripps Institute in La Jolla are, on the other hand, completely taken with this virus. They are not setting the tiny things loose on plants, however, but have something completely different in mind: the viruses are to act as chemically "programmable" nanobiotechnological building blocks. The goal of nanobiotechnology is to construct everything from the tiniest of components for such things as microcomputers to entire microscopic robots. To achieve this, building blocks whose size is on the order
Sick Beans lead to Nanotech
Farmers get little joy from the cowpea mosaic virus, which attacks legumes. Chemists and molecular biologists at the Scripps Institute in La Jolla are, on the other hand, completely taken with this virus. They are not setting the tiny things loose on plants, however, but have something completely different in mind: the viruses are to act as chemically "programmable" nanobiotechnological building blocks. The goal of nanobiotechnology is to construct everything from the tiniest of components for such things as microcomputers to entire microscopic robots. To achieve this, building blocks whose size is on the order of a few nanometers (1 nm = one millionth of a mm) are needed. The Scripps team h
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Cowpeas: Webster's Quotations, Facts and Phrases by Icon Group International (Author) Ever need a fact or quotation on "cowpeas"? Designed for speechwriters, journalists, writers, researchers, students, professors, teachers, historians, academics, scrapbookers, trivia buffs and word lovers, this is the largest book ever created for this word. It represents a compilation of "single sentences" and/or "short paragraphs" from a variety of sources with a linguistic emphasis on anything relating to the term "cowpeas," including non-conventional usage and alternative meanings which capture ambiguities. This is not an encyclopedic book, but rather a collage of statements made using the word "cowpeas," or related words (e.g. inflections, synonyms or antonyms). This title is one of a series of books that considers all major vocabulary words. The entries in each book cover all parts... |
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Cowpea: Webster's Timeline History, 1770 - 2007 by Icon Group International (Author) Webster's bibliographic and event-based timelines are comprehensive in scope, covering virtually all topics, geographic locations and people. They do so from a linguistic point of view, and in the case of this book, the focus is on "Cowpea," including when used in literature (e.g. all authors that might have Cowpea in their name). As such, this book represents the largest compilation of timeline events associated with Cowpea when it is used in proper noun form. Webster's timelines cover bibliographic citations, patented inventions, as well as non-conventional and alternative meanings which capture ambiguities in usage. These furthermore cover all parts of speech (possessive, institutional usage, geographic usage) and contexts, including pop culture, the arts, social sciences (linguistics,... |
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