%0 Journal Article
%@ 1087-0156
%A Varshney, R K
%A Shi, C
%A Thudi, M
%A Mariac, C
%A Wallace, J
%A Qi, P
%A Zhang, H
%A Zhao, Y
%A Wang, X
%A Rathore, A
%A Srivastava, R K
%A Chitikineni, A
%A Fan, G
%A Bajaj, P
%A Punnuri, S
%A Gupta, S K
%A Wang, H
%A Jiang, Y
%A Couderc, M
%A Katta, M A V S K
%A Paudel, D R
%A Mungra, K D
%A Chen, W
%A Harris-Shultz, K R
%A Garg, V
%A Desai, N
%A Doddamani, D
%A Kane, N A
%A Conner, J A
%A Ghatak, A
%A Chaturvedi, P
%A Subramaniam, S
%A Yadav, O P
%A Berthouly-Salazar, C
%A Hamidou, F
%A Wang, J
%A Liang, X
%A Clotault, J
%A Upadhyaya, H D
%A Cubry, P
%A Rhoné, B
%A Gueye, M C
%A Sunkar, R
%A Dupuy, C
%A Sparvoli, F
%A Cheng, S
%A Mahala, R S
%A Singh, B
%A Yadav, R S
%A Lyons, E
%A Datta, S K
%A Hash, C T
%A Devos, K M
%A Buckler, E
%A Bennetzen, J L
%A Paterson, A H
%A Ozias-Akins, P
%A Grando, S
%A Wang, J
%A Mohapatra, T
%A Weckwerth, W
%A Reif, J C
%A Liu, X
%A Vigouroux, Y
%A Xu, X
%D 2017
%F icrisat:10183
%I Nature Publishing Group
%J Nature Biotechnology
%K Pearl millet, genome sequence, agronomic traits, arid environments, global temperatures, climate change, heat tolerance, drought tolerance, draft genome, resequencing data, genetic improvement, semi-arid regions, dyland cereals, cereals, cereal crops, climate
%P 1-13
%T Pearl millet genome sequence provides a resource to improve agronomic traits in arid environments
%U http://oar.icrisat.org/10183/
%X Pearl millet [Cenchrus americanus (L.) Morrone] is a staple food for more than 90 million farmers in arid and semi-arid regions of sub-Saharan Africa, India and South Asia. We report the ~1.79 Gb draft whole genome sequence of reference genotype Tift 23D2B1-P1-P5, which contains an estimated 38,579 genes. We highlight the substantial enrichment for wax biosynthesis genes, which may contribute to heat and drought tolerance in this crop. We resequenced and analyzed 994 pearl millet lines, enabling insights into population structure, genetic diversity and domestication. We use these resequencing data to establish marker trait associations for genomic selection, to define heterotic pools, and to predict hybrid performance. We believe that these resources should empower researchers and breeders to improve this important staple crop.
%Z We are thankful to several colleagues and collaborators especially X. Tan from The University of Georgia and C.T. Satyavathi from ICAR-All India Coordinated Research Project on Pearl Millet, for their help in analysis and interpretation of some data. This study was supported in part by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, USA (Grant ID# OPP1052922), Agence Nationale de la Recherche, France (Grant ID: ANR-13-BSV7-0017), and Basic Research Program from the Shenzhen Municipal Government, China (NO.JCYJ20150529150505656). This work has been undertaken as part of the CGIAR Research Program on Dryland Cereals, ICRISAT, India. ICRISAT is a member of the CGIAR.