BackgroundField pea (Pisum sativum L.) and faba bean (Vicia faba L.) are cool-season grain legume species that provide rich sources of food for humans and fodder for livestock. To date, both species have been relative 'genomic orphans' due to limited availability of genetic and genomic information. A significant enrichment of genomic resources is consequently required in order to understand the genetic architecture of important agronomic traits, and to support germplasm enhancement, genetic diversity, population structure and demographic studies.ResultscDNA samples obtained from various tissue types of specific field pea and faba bean genotypes were sequenced using 454 Roche GS FLX Titanium technology. A total of 720,324 and 304,680 reads for field pea and faba bean, respectively, were de novo assembled to generate sets of 70,682 and 60,440 unigenes. Consensus sequences were compared against the genome of the model legume species Medicago truncatula Gaertn., as well as that of the more distantly related, but better-characterised genome of Arabidopsis thaliana L.. In comparison to M. truncatula coding sequences, 11,737 and 10,179 unique hits were obtained from field pea and faba bean. Totals of 22,057 field pea and 18,052 faba bean unigenes were subsequently annotated from GenBank. Comparison to the genome of soybean (Glycine max L.) resulted in 19,451 unique hits for field pea and 16,497 unique hits for faba bean, corresponding to c. 35% and 30% of the known gene space, respectively. Simple sequence repeat (SSR)-containing expressed sequence tags (ESTs) were identified from consensus sequences, and totals of 2,397 and 802 primer pairs were designed for field pea and faba bean. Subsets of 96 EST-SSR markers were screened for validation across modest panels of field pea and faba bean cultivars, as well as related non-domesticated species. For field pea, 86 primer pairs successfully obtained amplification products from one or more template genotypes, of which 59% revealed polymorphism between 6 genotypes. In the case of faba bean, 81 primer pairs displayed successful amplification, of which 48% detected polymorphism.ConclusionsThe generation of EST datasets for field pea and faba bean has permitted effective unigene identification and functional sequence annotation. EST-SSR loci were detected at incidences of 14-17%, permitting design of comprehensive sets of primer pairs. The subsets from these primer pairs proved highly useful for polymorphism detection within Pisum and Vicia germplasm.

Faba bean (Vicia faba L.) is a major food and feed legume because of the high nutritional value of its seeds. The main objectives of faba bean breeding are to improve yield, disease resistance, abiotic stress tolerance, seed quality and other agronomic traits. The partial cross-pollinated nature of faba bean introduces both challenges and opportunities for population development and breeding. Breeding methods that are applicable to self-pollinated crops or open-pollinated crops are not highly suitable for faba bean. However, traditional breeding methods such as recurrent mass selection have been established in faba bean and used successfully in breeding for resistance to diseases. Molecular breeding strategies that integrate the latest innovations in genetics and genomics with traditional breeding strategies have many potential applications for future faba bean cultivar development. Hence, considerable efforts have been undertaken in identifying molecular markers, enriching genetic and genomic resources using high-throughput sequencing technologies and improving genetic transformation techniques in faba bean. However, the impact of research on practical faba bean breeding and cultivar release to farmers has been limited due to disconnects between research and breeding objectives and the high costs of research and implementation. The situation with faba bean is similar to other small crops and highlights the need for coordinated, collaborative research programs that interact closely with commercially focused breeding programs to ensure that technologies are implemented effectively

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Using a random decamer 5'-CCGAGGTGAC-3' in an arbitrarily primed PCR, similar band patterns were observed between Acremonium lolii and A. coenophialum DNA, which were somewhat different from those formed by other fungal DNA. Despite sharing bands of around 0.7, 0.9 and 2.1 kb, A. lolii can be distinguished from A. coenophialum by the presence of an additional band at around 0.5 kb in the arbitrarily primed PCR.

Using a random decamer 5'-CCGAGGTGAC-3' in an arbitrarily primed PCR, similar band patterns were observed between Acremonium lolii and A. coenophialum DNA, which were somewhat different from those formed by other fungal DNA. Despite sharing bands of around 0.7, 0.9 and 2.1 kb, A. lolii can be distinguished from A. coenophialum by the presence of an additional band at around 0.5 kb in the arbitrarily primed PCR.