NDSU Helping Develop Better Beans

A 2009 project initiative called the Common Bean Coordinated Agricultural Project (BeanCAP) by North Dakota State University (NDSU) led by Phil McClean is releasing the more than 1,575 bean SNPs that would aid bean breeders in developing countries. The SNPs will be transferred to the Generation Challenge Program (GCP) of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR).

"This transfer is consistent with the USDA Feed the Future commitment to be actively engaged in global food security efforts," McClean says. "It supports the research objective to seek gains in productivity through adoption of improved technologies that will promote the development of more nutritious, environmentally sustainable and climate-resilient crops. Transfer of these molecular markers is consistent with a USDA strategy that envisions outcomes that will deliver scientific breakthroughs and research to promote adoption of the best science through links with private-sector research partners and international agencies."

SNPs or single nucleotide polymorphism is an advanced molecular-marker system widely used to increase the efficiency of crop breeding of common beans. Common beans are considered the most important food legume that feeds about more than 500 million people in Latin America and sub-Saharan Africa.

The original news can be viewed at http://www.ag.ndsu.edu/news/newsreleases/2011/oct-10-2011/ndsu-helping-develop-better-beans