Experts Unlock the Code to Develop Better Peas

A team of international researchers reported how peas have evolved and pinpointed the traits that can be harnessed for breeding better varieties. The findings are published in Nature Genetics.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations records, peas are the fourth most produced legume globally. Aside from being a good source of protein, starch, fiber, and minerals, peas have a significant ecological sustainability advantage because of their biological nitrogen fixation capacity. Thus, decoding the genetic makeup of peas is vital to speed up the development of improved varieties.

“In the past decades, next-generation sequencing technology has greatly facilitated crop genomics studies leading to a better understanding of genome architecture,” explained Professor Rajeev Varshney from Murdoch University's Food Futures Institute and one of the project leaders of this study.

“This study provides a deeper understanding of peas and the genes that can play a role in adaptation to climate change and help in developing more climate resilient crops…It fills the gap between previous basic models and modern genomics to boost research and crop improvement for the pea,” Prof. Varshney added.

Read more from Murdoch University and Nature Genetics.