Traditional Knowledge, Use, and Management of Among the Mijikenda Community in Kilifi, Kenya.

Although Lam. (Moringaceae) is a multipurpose tree with remarkable nutritional and therapeutic benefits, it is undervalued and neglected in Kenya, as the local people associate it with famine and poverty. The present study aims to assess and document the traditional knowledge on use and management as well as production constraints of the species among the Mijikenda community in Kilifi County, Kenya.

The Gynandropsis gynandra genome provides insights into whole-genome duplications and the evolution of C4 photosynthesis in Cleomaceae.

Gynandropsis gynandra (Cleomaceae) is a cosmopolitan leafy vegetable and medicinal plant, which has also been used as a model to study C4 photosynthesis due to its evolutionary proximity to C3 Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana). Here, we present the genome sequence of G. gynandra, anchored onto 17 main pseudomolecules with a total length of 740 Mb, an N50 of 42 Mb and 30,933 well-supported gene models.

Chromosome evolution and the genetic basis of agronomically important traits in greater yam.

The nutrient-rich tubers of the greater yam, Dioscorea alata L., provide food and income security for millions of people around the world. Despite its global importance, however, greater yam remains an orphan crop.

Genomic Resources to Guide Improvement of the Shea Tree.

A defining component of agroforestry parklands across Sahelo-Sudanian Africa (SSA), the shea tree () is central to sustaining local livelihoods and the farming environments of rural communities. Despite its economic and cultural value, however, not to mention the ecological roles it plays as a dominant parkland species, shea remains semi-domesticated with virtually no history of systematic genetic improvement. In truth, shea's extended juvenile period makes traditional breeding approaches untenable; but the opportunity for genome-assisted breeding is immense, provided the foundational resources are available.

Draft Genomes of Two Artocarpus Plants, Jackfruit (A. heterophyllus) and Breadfruit (A. altilis).

Two of the most economically important plants in the Artocarpus genus are jackfruit (A. heterophyllus Lam.) and breadfruit (A.

The draft genomes of five agriculturally important African orphan crops.

Background: The expanding world population is expected to double the worldwide demand for food by 2050. Eighty-eight percent of countries currently face a serious burden of malnutrition, especially in Africa and south and southeast Asia. About 95% of the food energy needs of humans are fulfilled by just 30 species, of which wheat, maize, and rice provide the majority of calories.

Development of genic and genomic SSR markers of robusta coffee (Coffea canephora Pierre Ex A. Froehner).

Coffee breeding and improvement efforts can be greatly facilitated by availability of a large repository of simple sequence repeats (SSRs) based microsatellite markers, which provides efficiency and high-resolution in genetic analyses. This study was aimed to improve SSR availability in coffee by developing new genic-/genomic-SSR markers using in-silico bioinformatics and streptavidin-biotin based enrichment approach, respectively. The expressed sequence tag (EST) based genic microsatellite markers (EST-SSRs) were developed using the publicly available dataset of 13,175 unigene ESTs, which showed a distribution of 1 SSR/3.

High-throughput and parallel SNP discovery in selected candidate genes in Eucalyptus camaldulensis using Illumina NGS platform.

Next generation sequencing (NGS) technologies have revolutionized the pace and scale of genomics- and transcriptomics-based SNP discovery across different plant and animal species. Herein, 72-base paired-end Illumina sequencing was employed for high-throughput, parallel and large-scale SNP discovery in 41 growth-related candidate genes in Eucalyptus camaldulensis. Approximately 100 kb of genome from 96 individuals was amplified and sequenced using a hierarchical DNA/PCR pooling strategy and assembled over corresponding E.

Isolation and characterization of resistance gene analogues from Psilanthus species that represent wild relatives of cultivated coffee endemic to India.

Biotic or abiotic stress can cause considerable damage to crop plants that can be managed by building disease resistance in the cultivated gene pool through breeding for disease resistance genes (R-genes). R-genes, conferring resistance to diverse pathogens or pests share a high level of similarity at the DNA and protein levels in different plant species. This property of R-genes has been successfully employed to isolate putative resistance gene analogues (RGAs) using a PCR-based approach from new plant sources.

Development of new genomic microsatellite markers from robusta coffee (Coffea canephora Pierre ex A. Froehner) showing broad cross-species transferability and utility in genetic studies.

Background: Species-specific microsatellite markers are desirable for genetic studies and to harness the potential of MAS-based breeding for genetic improvement. Limited availability of such markers for coffee, one of the most important beverage tree crops, warrants newer efforts to develop additional microsatellite markers that can be effectively deployed in genetic analysis and coffee improvement programs. The present study aimed to develop new coffee-specific SSR markers and validate their utility in analysis of genetic diversity, individualization, linkage mapping, and transferability for use in other related taxa.

Identification, characterization and utilization of EST-derived genic microsatellite markers for genome analyses of coffee and related species.

Genic microsatellites or EST-SSRs derived from expressed sequence tags (ESTs) are desired because these are inexpensive to develop, represent transcribed genes, and often a putative function can be assigned to them. In this study we investigated 2,553 coffee ESTs (461 from the public domain and 2,092 in-house generated ESTs) for identification and development of genic microsatellite markers. Of these, 2,458 ESTs (all >100 bp in size) were searched for SSRs using MISA--search module followed by stackPACK clustering that revealed a total of 425 microsatellites in 331 (13.