The Genetic Makeup of a Global Barnyard Millet Germplasm Collection

Wallace, J G and Upadhyaya, H D and Vetriventhan, M and Buckler, E S and Hash, C T and Ramu, P (2015) The Genetic Makeup of a Global Barnyard Millet Germplasm Collection. Plant Genome, 08 (01). 01-07. ISSN 1940-3372

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Abstract

Barnyard millet (Echinochloa spp.) is an important crop for many smallholder farmers in southern and eastern Asia. It is valued for its drought tolerance, rapid maturation, and superior nutritional qualities. Despite these characteristics there are almost no genetic or genomic resources for this crop in either cultivated species [E. colona (L.) Link and E. crus-galli (L.) P. Beauv.]. Recently, a core collection of 89 barnyard millet accessions was developed at the genebank at the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT). To enhance the use of this germplasm and genomic research in barnyard millet improvement, we report the genetic characterization of this core collection using whole-genome genotyping-by-sequencing. We identified several thousand single-nucleotide polymorphisms segregating in the core collection, and we use them to show patterns of population structure and phylogenetic relationships among the accessions. We determine that there are probably four population clusters within the E. colona accessions and three such clusters within E. crus-galli. These clusters match phylogenetic relationships but by and large do not correspond to classification into individual races or clusters based on morphology. Geospatial data available for a subset of samples indicates that the clusters probably originate from geographic divisions. In all, these data will be useful to breeders working to improve this crop for smallholder farmers. This work also serves as a case study of how modern genomics can rapidly characterize crops, including ones with little to no prior genetic data.

Item Type:	Article
Divisions:	RP-Grain Legumes
CRP:	CGIAR Research Program on Grain Legumes
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Barnyard millet, Genomics, Genetics, Genebank, Crops Research, Millets, Germplasm Collection
Subjects:	Mandate crops > Millets Others > Genetics and Genomics
Depositing User:	Mr Ramesh K
Date Deposited:	06 Apr 2016 05:38
Last Modified:	06 Apr 2016 05:38
URI:	http://oar.icrisat.org/id/eprint/9409
Official URL:	http://dx.doi.org/10.3835/plantgenome2014.10.0067
Projects:	UNSPECIFIED
Funders:	UNSPECIFIED
Acknowledgement:	UNSPECIFIED
Links:	Google Scholar

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