Pea Genomics: What Else?.

Legume use in arable rotations provides several significant ecological services that can help to meet the challenge of delivering high quality food in an environmentally sustainable manner. Among legumes, pea has long been a model species for geneticists. But despite its major role in the discovery of the laws of genetics by Mendel, the keys to decipher the impressive phenotypic diversity of the species have been lacking until recently. Under the impetus of large national and international programs, and driven by innovations in informatics and biotechnology, useful genomic resources are now available in pea. High precision mapping of the pea genome, an atlas of the expression of its genes in many tissues, and the ongoing sequencing of its genome are valuable tools for dissecting the genetic determinism of traits of interest and ultimately select new varieties more effectively for these traits. In order to develop novel pea varieties and optimize seed yield and quality regularity in the context of pesticide reduction and climate change, different complementary approaches are used: (i) develop genomic selection programs based on naturally occurring variability, (ii) enhance gene discovery through comparative mapping, and (iii) create innovative plant architecture ideotypes by screening mutations and symbiotic biological regulations. Thanks to the high conservation of synteny, that is to say, the order of genes on the genome, between peas and other legumes species, knowledge gained on peas will be useful to accelerate progress in the species’ close relatives such as fava beans.

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