A research project led by scientists in Dijon, France but including researchers from the Czech Republic, Australia, the United States of America as well as a group of researchers from the Crop Development Centre at the University of Saskatchewan (USask) has been successful at cracking the code of the pea genome.
Researchers Bunyamin Tar’an, Tom Warkentin and Kishore Gali were among the 45 co-authors listed on the recently published paper in Nature Genetics which describes the sequencing of the pea genome. “We feel it is a great accomplishment considering the large size of the pea genome, of which more than 80% is repetitive sequences” says Warkentin.
This reference guide is expected to be used as a resource internationally to understand and improve the pea crop. The development can assist plant breeders in improving disease resistance selections, boosting protein levels or increasing yield levels by shortening the lengthy breeding cycle necessary in variety selection.
An article published in The Western Producer speaks with the researchers and describes in more details the work that was done by the collarborative group. Read the article here.