Exceptionally low genomic diversity in the underutilised legume Kersting’s groundnut
Abstract Identifying crops with novel and climate resilience traits is imperative to ensure food security. Without a basic understanding of the genomes and genomic diversity of these crops they will remain underutilised or could even become lost. Kersting’s groundnut [Macrotyloma geocarpum (Harms) M...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Nature Portfolio
2025-06-01
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| Series: | Nature Communications |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-60494-x |
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| author | Tsz-Yan Cheung Konoutan M. Kafoutchoni Eric E. Agoyi Ting-Fung Chan Mark A. Chapman |
| author_facet | Tsz-Yan Cheung Konoutan M. Kafoutchoni Eric E. Agoyi Ting-Fung Chan Mark A. Chapman |
| author_sort | Tsz-Yan Cheung |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Identifying crops with novel and climate resilience traits is imperative to ensure food security. Without a basic understanding of the genomes and genomic diversity of these crops they will remain underutilised or could even become lost. Kersting’s groundnut [Macrotyloma geocarpum (Harms) Maréchal & Baudet] is one such crop, regarded as a useful, drought tolerant and sometimes valuable legume. Here, we present the assembly and annotation of the genome of Kersting’s groundnut and an analysis of genomic diversity across a diversity panel. Accessions are grouped by geography and seed coat colour, one of the key traits used to describe the accessions. Four candidate genes involved in pathways relating to pigments or flavonoids are revealed. One of the important findings is that Kersting’s groundnut retains very low diversity, about 85-95% less than two other legumes, suggesting a pressing need to conserve the existing diversity of Kersting’s groundnut. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-3c35f2f117cf446fb2d26579a1514a0f |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 2041-1723 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-06-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Nature Communications |
| spelling | doaj-art-3c35f2f117cf446fb2d26579a1514a0f2025-08-20T03:10:34ZengNature PortfolioNature Communications2041-17232025-06-0116111210.1038/s41467-025-60494-xExceptionally low genomic diversity in the underutilised legume Kersting’s groundnutTsz-Yan Cheung0Konoutan M. Kafoutchoni1Eric E. Agoyi2Ting-Fung Chan3Mark A. Chapman4School of Life Sciences, The Chinese University of Hong KongNon-Timber Forest Product and Orphan Crop Species Unit, Laboratory of Applied Ecology, Faculty of Agronomic Sciences, University of Abomey-CalaviNon-Timber Forest Product and Orphan Crop Species Unit, Laboratory of Applied Ecology, Faculty of Agronomic Sciences, University of Abomey-CalaviSchool of Life Sciences, The Chinese University of Hong KongSchool of Biological Sciences, University of SouthamptonAbstract Identifying crops with novel and climate resilience traits is imperative to ensure food security. Without a basic understanding of the genomes and genomic diversity of these crops they will remain underutilised or could even become lost. Kersting’s groundnut [Macrotyloma geocarpum (Harms) Maréchal & Baudet] is one such crop, regarded as a useful, drought tolerant and sometimes valuable legume. Here, we present the assembly and annotation of the genome of Kersting’s groundnut and an analysis of genomic diversity across a diversity panel. Accessions are grouped by geography and seed coat colour, one of the key traits used to describe the accessions. Four candidate genes involved in pathways relating to pigments or flavonoids are revealed. One of the important findings is that Kersting’s groundnut retains very low diversity, about 85-95% less than two other legumes, suggesting a pressing need to conserve the existing diversity of Kersting’s groundnut.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-60494-x |
| spellingShingle | Tsz-Yan Cheung Konoutan M. Kafoutchoni Eric E. Agoyi Ting-Fung Chan Mark A. Chapman Exceptionally low genomic diversity in the underutilised legume Kersting’s groundnut Nature Communications |
| title | Exceptionally low genomic diversity in the underutilised legume Kersting’s groundnut |
| title_full | Exceptionally low genomic diversity in the underutilised legume Kersting’s groundnut |
| title_fullStr | Exceptionally low genomic diversity in the underutilised legume Kersting’s groundnut |
| title_full_unstemmed | Exceptionally low genomic diversity in the underutilised legume Kersting’s groundnut |
| title_short | Exceptionally low genomic diversity in the underutilised legume Kersting’s groundnut |
| title_sort | exceptionally low genomic diversity in the underutilised legume kersting s groundnut |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-60494-x |
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