Genotyping-by-Sequencing in Vigna unguiculata Landraces and Its Utility for Assessing Taxonomic Relationships

Genotyping by sequencing (GBS) was used to analyze relationships among cowpea and asparagus bean landraces from southern Italy and to assess the utility of this technology to study taxonomy in a wider panel, including V. unguiculata cultigroups, subspecies, and other Vigna species. The analysis of SNPs derived from GBS highlighted that, among the cowpea landraces, the African samples were separated from the other material, while, for the Italian landraces, a certain clustering depending on seed color/pattern was observed in the dendrogram. When examining the V. unguiculata species complex, a clear separation between the two groups of wild subspecies, i.e., the allogamous wild perennials and the perennial out/inbreds, could be observed, the former representing the more ancestral wild progenitors of V. unguiculata. The species V. vexillata appeared more closely related to V. unguiculata than to the other Vigna species analyzed.

The concept of introduction and breeding of non-traditional vegetable plants in Siberia

The introduction of new vegetable crops in the harsh climate of Siberia presupposes the evaluation of resistance to environmental factors (long day, low temperatures, fungal diseases etc.) limiting the growth of plants, using pre-breeding methods.The studies were carried out in the outdoor and unheated plastic greenhouse conditions of the Central Siberian Botanical Garden (CSBS), Novosibirsk (54 ° N 83 ° E) and in the outdoor and the conditions of phytotron of the N.I.Vavilov All-Russian Institute of Plant Genetic Resources (VIR). We used a large collection of species accessions belonging to families Leguminosae, Cucurbitaceae and Brassicaceae. It is proposed to use the taxonomically important, stable traits and other features that affect the possibility of scaling up the cultivation of crops in Siberia. Sequential assessment, e. g. asparagus bean includes evaluation of resistance to a long day, cold resistance in the phase of mature male gametophyte in vitro, the composition of pathogenic micromycetes, and the resistance of accessions to them. Also, it is offered to use the symbiotic systems, including the effective strains of Bradyrhizobium sp. and high-yield cultivars with a neutral response to day length and low variation in biochemical composition, for example, the cultivar ‘Sibirskiy razmer’ bred in the CSBS.

Composition of Primary and Secondary Metabolite Compounds in Seeds and Pods of Asparagus Bean (Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp.) from China

Asparagus bean immature pods and seeds are popular as food products for healthy and functional nutrition. Gas chromatography with mass spectrometry was used to compare metabolomic profiles of seeds and pods yielded by old Chinese landraces and the modern cultivars ‘Yunanskaya’ and ‘Sibirskiy razmer’. About 120 compounds were identified. The content of a majority among groups of compounds was higher in pods than in seeds. The amount of free amino acids in pods was 47 times higher, polyols and phytosterols 5 times higher, phenolics 4 times higher, and organic acids and saponins 3 times higher than in seeds. Differences were found in the relative content of compounds. Among phenolic compounds, the dominant one for seeds was protocatechuic acid, and for pods 4-hydroxycinnamic acid. Only polyols were identified in seeds, but pods additionally contained ethanolamine, phytol, and phytosphingosine. The ratio for nonsaturated/saturated fatty acids was 2.2 in seeds and 1.4 in pods. Seeds contained more stigmasterol, and pods more β-sitosterol. Aglycones of saponins were identified: cycloartenol in seeds, α- and β-amyrins in pods. Oligosaccharides dominated in both seeds and pods. Landraces manifested higher protein content in pods, while modern cultivars had pods with higher contents of organic acids, polyols, monosaccharides, and fatty acids. The results obtained confirm the high nutritional value of asparagus bean seeds and pods, and the prospects of their use in various diets.

FUNGAL DISEASES OF ASPARAGUS VIGNA IN THE SOUTH OF WESTERN SIBERIA

Increasing popularity of asparagus bean (Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp.) − a new for Russia vegetable crop requires comprehensive study including resistance to biotic environmental factors. Composition of pathogens of germinating seeds, plants (roots, leaves, stems, fruits) of large collection of asparagus bean from the N.I. Vavilov All-Russian Institute of Plant Genetic Resources (VIR) and the Bioresource Scientific Collection of the CSBG SB RAS UNU No. USU 440534 have been investigated. Plants of 87 samples of asparagus bean were grown in the unheated plastic film greenhouse on the south of Western Siberia (54 ° N lat. 83 ° E) and examined for infestations of diseases in the Central Siberian Botanical Garden and Novosibirsk State Agrarian University (Novosibirsk). The infection of seeds with pathogenic micromycetes was determined according to GOST 12044-93 (similar to common beans) using the methods of mycological analysis and the Petri-dish moist chambers, also on Chapek media and KDA media. The main pathogenic micromycetes are: on germinating seeds − species of the genera Fusarium, Aspergillus, Penicillium, Alternaria, Mucor, Botrytis cinerea, Sclerotinia sclerotiorum; on seedlings − Fusarium solani; during fruiting on fruits and stems − B. cinerea and S. sclerotiorum; on the root collar − S. sclerotiorum. The dominant forms of white mold were stem, root collar, fruits. Five samples that showed a high level of resistance to B.cinerea and S.sclerotiorum have been selected. System for asparagus bean disease surveillance which should be built in the calendar-phenological sequence, has been recommended.

High-quality genome assembly and high-density genetic map of asparagus bean

Asparagus bean (Vigna. unguiculata ssp. sesquipedialis), known for its very long and tender green pods, is an important vegetable crop broadly grown in the developing countries. Despite its agricultural and economic values, asparagus bean does not have a high-quality genome assembly for breeding novel agronomic traits. In this study, we reported a high-quality 632.8 Mb assembly of asparagus bean based on the whole genome shotgun sequencing strategy. We also generated a high-density linkage map for asparagus bean, which helped anchor 94.42% of the scaffolds into 11 pseudo-chromosomes. A total of 42,609 protein-coding genes and 3,579 non-protein-coding genes were predicted from the assembly. Taken together, these genomic resources of asparagus bean will facilitate the investigation of economically valuable traits in a variety of legume species, so that the cultivation of these plants would help combat the protein and energy malnutrition in the developing world.