The tepary bean genome provides insight into evolution and domestication under heat stress

Samira Mafi Moghaddam, Atena Oladzad, Chushin Koh, Larissa Ramsay, John P. Hart, Sujan Mamidi, Genevieve Hoopes, Avinash Sreedasyam, Andrew Wiersma, Dongyan Zhao, Jane Grimwood, John P. Hamilton, Jerry Jenkins, Brieanne Vaillancourt, Joshua C. Wood, Jeremy Schmutz, Sateesh Kagale, Timothy Porch, Kirstin E. Bett, C. Robin Buell & Phillip E. McClean

Nature Communications volume 12, Article number: 2638 (2021) Published: 11 May 2021

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.

See: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-22858-x

Fig. 3: Phylogeny of the Phaseolus acutifolius Frijol Bayo and Phaseolus vulgaris G19833 NB-ARC gene families. Neighbor-joining tree of the NB-ARC containing gene models from the two species. Cluster designations (outer ring) are as described in Supplementary Data 8 and 9. Red diamonds represent P. acutifolius gene models, and blue diamonds represent P. vulgaris gene models. Bootstrap values (out of 100 replications) are shown for major nodes.