The legume Tylosema fassoglense, known also as marama or gemsbok bean, is an African orphan crop. It shows a high tolerance to drought and heat, and its beans are nutritionally rich in protein content. Therefore, T. fassoglense has the potential to contribute to global food security under the challenges of global climate change. However, little is known about the molecular basis of its response to drought and the requirements for seed germination, important characteristics for its possible cultivation.
We assembled the chromosome-level genomes of the diplod T. fassoglense (500 Mb) and its sister species T. esculentum (1.2Gb, tetraploid) through PacBio HiFi and Hi-C data. The annotated phased genomes will be used for comparative studies with other publicly available genomes of the Fabaceae family to investigate genes that are potentially relevant to seed germination, reproductive characters, and drought tolerance.
To the same end, the reference genomes will be used to assess the genetic diversity in the Tilosema genus, by resequencing 23 accessions from eight diverse locations in South Africa.
Taken together, these results will shed light on genes associated with desirable crop traits, such as germination rate, yield, and adaptation to drought. This work will provide the molecular basis for a possible future domestication of the marama bean.