In planta Identification of Putative Pathogenicity Factors from the Chickpea Pathogen Ascochyta rabiei by De novo Transcriptome Sequencing Using RNA-Seq and Massive Analysis of cDNA Ends.

The most important foliar diseases in legumes worldwide are ascochyta blights. Up to now, in the Ascochyta-legume pathosystem most studies focused on the identification of resistance genes in the host, while very little is known about the pathogenicity factors of the fungal pathogen. Moreover, available data were often obtained from fungi growing under artificial conditions. Therefore, in this study we aimed at the identification of the pathogenicity factors of Ascochyta rabiei, causing ascochyta blight in chickpea. To identify potential fungal pathogenicity factors, we employed RNA-seq and Massive Analysis of cDNA Ends (MACE) to produce comprehensive expression profiles of A. rabiei genes isolated either from the fungus growing in absence of its host or from fungi infecting chickpea leaves. We further provide a comprehensive de novo assembly of the A. rabiei transcriptome comprising 22,725 contigs with an average length of 1178 bp. Since pathogenicity factors are usually secreted, we predicted the A. rabiei secretome, yielding 550 putatively secreted proteins. MACE identified 596 transcripts that were up-regulated during infection. An analysis of these genes identified a collection of candidate pathogenicity factors and unraveled the pathogen's strategy for infecting its host.

Draft genome sequence of chickpea (Cicer arietinum) provides a resource for trait improvement.

Chickpea (Cicer arietinum) is the second most widely grown legume crop after soybean, accounting for a substantial proportion of human dietary nitrogen intake and playing a crucial role in food security in developing countries. We report the ∼738-Mb draft whole genome shotgun sequence of CDC Frontier, a kabuli chickpea variety, which contains an estimated 28,269 genes. Resequencing and analysis of 90 cultivated and wild genotypes from ten countries identifies targets of both breeding-associated genetic sweeps and breeding-associated balancing selection. Candidate genes for disease resistance and agronomic traits are highlighted, including traits that distinguish the two main market classes of cultivated chickpea--desi and kabuli. These data comprise a resource for chickpea improvement through molecular breeding and provide insights into both genome diversity and domestication.

Functional genomics to study stress responses in crop legumes: progress and prospects.

Legumes are important food crops worldwide, contributing to more than 33% of human dietary protein. The production of crop legumes is frequently impacted by abiotic and biotic stresses. It is therefore important to identify genes conferring resistance to biotic stresses and tolerance to abiotic stresses that can be used to both understand molecular mechanisms of plant response to the environment and to accelerate crop improvement. Recent advances in genomics offer a range of approaches such as the sequencing of genomes and transcriptomes, gene expression microarray as well as RNA-seq based gene expression profiling, and map-based cloning for the identification and isolation of biotic and abiotic stress-responsive genes in several crop legumes. These candidate stress associated genes should provide insights into the molecular mechanisms of stress tolerance and ultimately help to develop legume varieties with improved stress tolerance and productivity under adverse conditions. This review provides an overview on recent advances in the functional genomics of crop legumes that includes the discovery as well as validation of candidate genes.