Pearl millet genome sequence provides a resource to improve agronomic traits in arid environments.
Rajeev Kumar VarshneyChengcheng ShiMahendar ThudiCedric MariacJason WallacePeng QiHe ZhangYusheng ZhaoXiyin WangAbhishek RathoreRakesh K SrivastavaAnnapurna ChitikineniGuangyi FanPrasad BajajSomashekhar PunnuriS K GuptaHao WangYong JiangMarie CoudercMohan A V S K KattaDev R PaudelK D MungraWenbin ChenKaren R Harris-ShultzVanika GargNeetin DesaiDadakhalandar DoddamaniNdjido Ardo KaneJoann A ConnerArindam GhatakPalak ChaturvediSabarinath SubramaniamOm Parkash YadavCécile Berthouly-SalazarFalalou HamidouJianping WangXinming LiangJérémy ClotaultHari D UpadhyayaPhilippe CubryBénédicte RhonéMame Codou GueyeRamanjulu SunkarChristian DupuyFrancesca SparvoliShifeng ChengR S MahalaBharat SinghRattan S YadavEric LyonsSwapan K DattaC Tom HashKatrien M DevosEdward S BucklerJeffrey L BennetzenAndrew H PatersonPeggy Ozias-AkinsStefania GrandoJun WangTrilochan MohapatraWolfram WeckwerthJochen Christoph ReifXin LiuYves VigourouxXun XuPublished in: Nature biotechnology (2017)
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.