Unique Salt-Tolerance-Related QTLs, Evolved in (Na Includer) and (Na Excluder), Shed Light on the Development of Super-Salt-Tolerant Azuki Bean () Cultivars.

Wild relatives of crops have the potential to improve food crops, especially in terms of improving abiotic stress tolerance. Two closely related wild species of the traditional East Asian legume crops, Azuki bean (), "Tojinbaka" and "Ukushima" were shown to have much higher levels of salt tolerance than azuki beans. To identify the genomic regions responsible for salt tolerance in "Tojinbaka" and "Ukushima", three interspecific hybrids were developed: (A) azuki bean cultivar "Kyoto Dainagon" × "Tojinbaka", (B) "Kyoto Dainagon" × "Ukushima" and (C) "Ukushima" × "Tojinbaka".