ICRISAT and NRGene Make Chickpea and Pigeonpea Reference Genome Data Available

A team of scientists from the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) in India, together with NRGene, Israel have helped create multiple assembly lines of pigeonpea and chickpea genomes. The collaboration has produced chickpea and pigeonpea genomes to a reference level quality that researchers can use.

"For effective use of genomics-assisted breeding, we need reference genomes of several varieties of a given crop. Therefore, new assemblies of chickpea and pigeonpea lines by NRGene and ICRISAT will allow our scientists and partners to better understand plant traits to breed more nutritional varieties," says Dr. Rajeev K. Varshney, Research Program Director, Genetic Gains and Director, Center of Excellence in Genomics & Systems Biology at ICRISAT.

"While DeNovoMAGIC has been successfully deployed by the world's leading seed companies and academic institutions, implementing this for organizations such as ICRISAT enhances our mission of making an impact on the world food supply," says Dr. Gil Ronen, CEO of NRGene. He added that chickpea, pigeonpea, and other protein-rich legumes will be even more critical crops in the years to come.

Read more in the media release from ICRISAT.