Ensuring food security remains a critical challenge, with approximately 10% of the world’s population suffering from hunger or malnutrition. Modern agriculture, emphasizing large-scale monocultures, has led to biodiversity losses and increased agricultural vulnerability aggravated by climate change. Emerging as a novel strategy to address this issue, underutilized crops are receiving increased interest because they often thrive in harsh conditions and have a high nutritional value.
This project focuses on Tylosema fassoglense, known as marama or gemsbok bean, a perennial legume native to sub-Saharan Africa, which has edible seeds rivaling the protein content of soybean. Despite its importance in local diets and high tolerance to drought and heat stress, no efforts have been made to domesticate or breed marama bean. One possible obstacle to its cultivation is the erratic and inefficient germination of the seeds. Previous studies have shown that scarification improves germination, but the regulatory mechanisms of this physiological response are unknown. Our objective is to investigate the molecular networks governing germination and how it is influenced by scarification.
We will assess the transcriptomic profile of seeds during different germination time points and employ a non-targeted metabolomic approach to analyze compounds in the seed coat. Allowing us to identify genes and metabolites associated with seed coat development and the physiological effects of scarification. This will provide valuable information on key traits for the future domestication and breeding of T. fassoglense. This, in turn, will facilitate propagation and contribute to the development of varieties with higher yields, promoting a sustainable agriculture