Translational Genomics in Agriculture: Some Examples in Grain Legumes

Recent advances in genomics and associated disciplines like bioinformatics have made it possible to develop genomic resources, such as large-scale sequence data for any crop species. While these datasets have been proven very useful for the understanding of genome architecture and dynamics as well as facilitating the discovery of genes, an obligation for, and challenge to the scientific community is to translate genome information to develop products, i.e. superior lines for trait(s) of interest. We call this approach, “translational genomics in agriculture” (TGA). TGA is currently in practice for cereal crops, such as maize (Zea mays) and rice (Oryza sativa), mainly in developed countries and by the private sector; progress has been slow for legume crops. Grown globally on 62.8 million ha with a production of 53.2 million tons and a value of nearly 24.2 billion dollars, the majority of these legumes have low crop productivity (