Initiation of genomics-assisted breeding in Virginia-type peanuts through the generation of a reference genome and informative markers.

Introduction: Virginia-type peanut, , is the second largest market class of peanut cultivated in the United States. It is mainly used for large-seeded, in-shell products. Historically, Virginia-type peanut cultivars were developed through long-term recurrent phenotypic selection and wild species introgression projects.