Explore the vast range of titles available.

Since 1999, various forward- and reverse-genetic approaches have uncovered nearly 200 genes required for symbiotic nitrogen fixation (SNF) in legumes. These discoveries advanced our understanding of the evolution of SNF in plants and its relationship to other beneficial endosymbioses, signaling between plants and microbes, the control of microbial infection of plant cells, the control of plant cell division leading to nodule development, autoregulation of nodulation, intracellular accommodation of bacteria, nodule oxygen homeostasis, the control of bacteroid differentiation, metabolism and transport supporting symbiosis, and the control of nodule senescence. This review catalogs and contextualizes all of the plant genes currently known to be required for SNF in two model legume species, Medicago truncatula and Lotus japonicus, and two crop species, Glycine max (soybean) and Phaseolus vulgaris (common bean). We also briefly consider the future of SNF genetics in the era of pan-genomics and genome editing.

Common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) is the most important grain legume for human consumption and has a role in sustainable agriculture owing to its ability to fix atmospheric nitrogen. We assembled 473 Mb of the 587-Mb genome and genetically anchored 98% of this sequence in 11 chromosome-scale pseudomolecules. We compared the genome for the common bean against the soybean genome to find changes in soybean resulting from polyploidy. Using resequencing of 60 wild individuals and 100 landraces from the genetically differentiated Mesoamerican and Andean gene pools, we confirmed 2 independent domestications from genetic pools that diverged before human colonization. Less than 10% of the 74 Mb of sequence putatively involved in domestication was shared by the two domestication events. We identified a set of genes linked with increased leaf and seed size and combined these results with quantitative trait locus data from Mesoamerican cultivars. Genes affected by domestication may be useful for genomics-enabled crop improvement.

Background Modern civilization depends on only a few plant species for its nourishment. These crops were derived via several thousands of years of human selection that transformed wild ancestors into high-yielding domesticated descendants. Among cultivated plants, common bean ( Phaseolus vulgaris L . ) is the most important grain legume. Yet, our understanding of the origins and concurrent shaping of the genome of this crop plant is limited. Results We sequenced the genomes of 29 accessions representing 12 Phaseolus species. Single nucleotide polymorphism-based phylogenomic analyses, using both the nuclear and chloroplast genomes, allowed us to detect a speciation event, a finding further supported by metabolite profiling. In addition, we identified ~1200 protein coding genes (PCGs) and ~100 long non-coding RNAs with domestication-associated haplotypes. Finally, we describe asymmetric introgression events occurring among common bean subpopulations in Mesoamerica and across hemispheres. Conclusions We uncover an unpredicted speciation event in the tropical Andes that gave rise to a sibling species, formerly considered the “wild ancestor” of P. vulgaris , which diverged before the split of the Mesoamerican and Andean P. vulgaris gene pools. Further, we identify haplotypes strongly associated with genes underlying the emergence of domestication traits. Our findings also reveal the capacity of a predominantly autogamous plant to outcross and fix loci from different populations, even from distant species, which led to the acquisition by domesticated beans of adaptive traits from wild relatives. The occurrence of such adaptive introgressions should be exploited to accelerate breeding programs in the near future.

Tepary bean (Phaseolus acutifolis A. Gray), native to the Sonoran Desert, is highly adapted to heat and drought. It is a sister species of common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.), the most important legume protein source for direct human consumption, and whose production is threatened by climate change. Here, we report on the tepary genome including exploration of possible mechanisms for resilience to moderate heat stress and a reduced disease resistance gene repertoire, consistent with adaptation to arid and hot environments. Extensive collinearity and shared gene content among these Phaseolus species will facilitate engineering climate adaptation in common bean, a key food security crop, and accelerate tepary bean improvement.

Plant immune systems rely on pattern recognition receptors (PRRs) to specifically detect diverse pathogen/pest-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs). While many distinct receptors are known to mediate PAMP recognition, the role of transcriptional regulation of PRRs remains poorly understood. In legume plants, Inceptin Receptor (INR) senses an 11-amino acid peptide, In11, to activate direct and indirect defenses against caterpillar pests. Here we investigated the genetic basis of the rare In11 insensitivity phenotype found in common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) landraces. Natural variation in the rapid In11-induced ethylene response corresponded with genetic variation at the locus encoding INR itself. Surprisingly, phenotypic variation corresponded with expression level of INR, rather than coding sequence variation. Promoter sequence variation across 21 accessions of Andean Phaseolus vulgaris from northwestern Argentina, as well as near-isogenic lines (NILs) derived from crosses between an In11-sensitive and insensitive line, corresponded with strength of In11-induced ethylene response. Promoter alleles also corresponded with strength of activation of a luciferase reporter in the heterologous expression model, Nicotiana benthamiana, indicating that cis-element variation is sufficient to drive differences in leaf expression levels. Surprisingly, NILs encoding either WT INR or the lower expression inr-2 allele did not show differences in resistance to herbivory by beet armyworm (Spodoptera exigua), or in In11-pretreatment protection assays, suggesting that even low INR expression can still mediate effective responses against herbivores despite insensitivity to the In11 elicitor in laboratory assays. Our results demonstrate that natural variation in PRR expression can contribute to differential PAMP responses while not necessarily affecting downstream resistance phenotypes.

The common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) is a major source of protein and essential nutrients for humans. To explore the genetic diversity and phylogenetic relationships of P. vulgaris, its complete mitochondrial genome (mitogenome) was sequenced and assembled. The mitogenome is 395,516 bp in length, including 31 unique protein-coding genes (PCGs), 15 transfer RNA (tRNA) genes, and 3 ribosomal RNA (rRNA) genes. Among the 31 PCGs, four genes (mttB, nad1, nad4L, and rps10) use ACG as initiation codons, which are altered to standard initiation codons by RNA editing. In addition, the termination codon CGA in the ccmFC gene is converted to UGA. Selective pressure analysis indicates that the ccmB, ccmFC, rps1, rps10, and rps14 genes were under evolutionary positive selection. The proportions of five amino acids (Phe, Leu, Pro, Arg, and Ser) in the whole amino acid profile of the proteins in each mitogenome can be used to distinguish angiosperms from gymnosperms. Phylogenetic analyses show that P. vulgaris is evolutionarily closer to the Glycininae than other leguminous plants. The results of the present study not only provide an important opportunity to conduct further genomic breeding studies in the common bean, they also provide valuable information for future evolutionary and molecular studies of leguminous plants.

Background Physical seed dormancy is an important trait in legume domestication. Although seed dormancy is beneficial in wild ecosystems, it is generally considered to be an undesirable trait in crops due to reduction in yield and / or quality. The physiological mechanism and underlying genetic factor(s) of seed dormancy is largely unknown in several legume species. Here we employed an integrative approach to understand the mechanisms controlling physical seed dormancy in common bean ( Phaseolus vulgaris L.). Results Using an innovative CT scan imaging system, we were able to track water movements inside the seed coat. We found that water uptake initiates from the bean seed lens. Using a scanning electron microscopy (SEM) we further identified several micro-cracks on the lens surface of non-dormant bean genotypes. Bulked segregant analysis (BSA) was conducted on a bi-parental RIL (recombinant inbred line) population, segregating for seed dormancy. This analysis revealed that the seed water uptake is associated with a single major QTL on Pv03. The QTL region was fine-mapped to a 118 Kb interval possessing 11 genes. Coding sequence analysis of candidate genes revealed a 5-bp insertion in an ortholog of pectin acetylesterase 8 that causes a frame shift, loss-of-function mutation in non-dormant genotype. Gene expression analysis of the candidate genes in the seed coat of contrasting genotypes indicated 21-fold lower expression of pectin acetylesterase 8 in non-dormant genotype. An analysis of mutational polymorphism was conducted among wild and domesticated beans. Although all the wild beans possessed the functional allele of pectin acetylesterase 8 , the majority (77%) of domesticated beans had the non-functional allele suggesting that this variant was under strong selection pressure through domestication. Conclusions In this study, we identified the physiological mechanism of physical seed dormancy and have identified a candidate allele causing variation in this trait. Our findings suggest that a 5-bp insertion in an ortholog of pectin acetylesterase 8 is likely a major causative mutation underlying the loss of seed dormancy during domestication. Although the results of current study provide strong evidences for the role of pectin acetylesterase 8 in seed dormancy, further confirmations seem necessary by employing transgenic approaches.

Over the past century, plant breeding programs have substantially improved plant growth and health, but have not yet considered the potential effects on the plant microbiome. Here, we conducted metatranscriptome analysis to determine if and how breeding for resistance of common bean against the root pathogen Fusarium oxysporum ( Fox ) affected gene expression in the rhizobacterial community. Our data revealed that the microbiome of the Fox -resistant cultivar presented a significantly higher expression of genes associated with nutrient metabolism, motility, chemotaxis, and the biosynthesis of the antifungal compounds phenazine and colicin V. Network analysis further revealed a more complex community for Fox -resistant cultivar and indicated Paenibacillus as a keystone genus in the rhizosphere microbiome. We suggest that resistance breeding in common bean has unintentionally co-selected for plant traits that strengthen the rhizosphere microbiome network structure and enrich for specific beneficial bacterial genera that express antifungal traits involved in plant protection against infections by root pathogens.

Shallow basal root growth angle (BRGA) increases phosphorus acquisition efficiency by enhancing topsoil foraging because in most soils, phosphorus is concentrated in the topsoil. Root hair length and density (RHL/D) increase phosphorus acquisition by expanding the soil volume subject to phosphorus depletion through diffusion. We hypothesized that shallow BRGA and large RHL/D are synergetic for phosphorus acquisition, meaning that their combined effect is greater than the sum of their individual effects. To evaluate this hypothesis, phosphorus acquisition in the field in Mozambique was compared among recombinant inbred lines of common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) having four distinct root phenotypes: long root hairs and shallow basal roots, long root hairs and deep basal roots, short root hairs and shallow basal roots, and short root hairs and deep basal roots. The results revealed substantial synergism between BRGA and RHL/D. Compared with short-haired, deep-rooted phenotypes, long root hairs increased shoot biomass under phosphorus stress by 89%, while shallow roots increased shoot biomass by 58%. Genotypes with both long root hairs and shallow roots had 298%greater biomass accumulation than short-haired, deep-rooted phenotypes. Therefore, the utility of shallow basal roots and long root hairs for phosphorus acquisition in combination is twice as large as their additive effects.We conclude that the anatomical phene of long, dense root hairs and the architectural phene of shallower basal root growth are synergetic for phosphorus acquisition. Phene synergism may be common in plant biology and can have substantial importance for plant fitness, as shown here.

We conducted a large-scale genome-wide association study evaluation of 683 common bean accessions, including landraces and breeding lines, grown over 3 years and in four environments across China, ranging in latitude from 18.23° to 45.75° N, with different planting dates and abiotic or biotic stresses. A total of 505 loci were associated with yield components, of which seed size, flowering time and harvest maturity traits were stable across years and environments. Some loci aligned with candidate genes controlling these traits. Yield components were observed to have strong associations with a gene-rich region on the long arm of chromosome 1. Manipulation of seed size, through selection of seed length versus seed width and height, was deemed possible, providing a genome-based means to select for important yield components. This study shows that evaluation of large germplasm collections across north–south geographic clines is useful in the detection of marker associations that determine grain yield in pulses. Resequencing and genome-wide association analysis of 683 common bean accessions across different latitudes identifies 505 loci associated with yield components, of which seed size, flowering and harvest maturity traits are stable across environments.