Submitted to: Book Chapter
Publication Type: Book / Chapter
Publication Acceptance Date: March 7, 2013
Publication Date: July 25, 2013
Citation: Coyne, C.J., Mcgee, R.J. 2013. Lentil genetic and genomic resources. In:Elsevier Insights, London. p. 157-180. Interpretive Summary: Lentil ranks among the oldest and the most appreciated grain legumes of the Old World. Worldwide, production has increased over the last few decades; however direct and indirect human activities have posed imminent threats to the integrity of genetic diversity of indigenous germplasm in many areas of the world including the Mediterranean region, Western Asia, Ethiopia and the Indian sub-continent. Approximately 37,000 accessions have been collected and are conserved ex situ by national and international gene banks. This book chapter summarizes current genomic knowledge and technologies can substantially facilitate the mining of genetic diversity and its incorporation in desired new cultivars for lentil production.
Technical Abstract: Lentil (Lens culinaris spp. culinaris) has a long history associated with the early civilizations 11,000 BP in southwestern Asia. The progenitor taxon is Lens culinaris spp. orientalis. The primary source of germplasm for lentil crop improvement is from the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) and other ex situ national collections. Typical of many crop species, lentil experienced a genetic bottleneck during domestication. Fortunately, many biotic and abiotic stress resistances have been identified and accessed from the wild Lens taxon held ex situ to expand the genetic diversity available for crop improvement. Lentil crop wild relatives (CWR) represent less than 5% of the world lentil collection of ICARDA and far less on a world-wide germplasm perspective. There is a great need for more collections of CWR and massive need for lentil preserved in situ and on farm for continued natural selection. Lentil genomics is a nascent stage but this is changing rapidly and we anticipated a reference sequence in the next few years.