Revista Digital Universitaria ISSN: 1607 - 6079 | Publicación mensual | 1 de febrero de 2015 vol.16, No.2
ABSTRACT
Common bean in the Genomic Era
María de la Soledad Saburido Álvarez, Alfredo Herrera Estrella
Mexico is the center of origin, domestication and genetic diversity of common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris), the most important grain legume for direct human consumption. Combined with corn, beans have been a Mexicans staple food for thousands of years. Despite its importance, its cultivation has been displaced, which has led to losses of genetic diversity. Wild populations of beans, as well as other wild relatives of the genus Phaseolus, are an important resource for plant breeding, because they have genes for tolerance to adverse environmental factors, which can be used to broaden the genetic base of cultivated bean in improvement programs. Recent advances in the development of genomic tools, as well as the existence of a reference genome of the species, promise an extraordinary development of improvement programs to ensure availability of sufficient diversity and to meet future demands of agricultural production under unpredictable weather conditions.
Keywords: Common bean, Phaseolus, crop improvement, genomic tools, genetic resources, reference genome, MAS breeding