Revisiting the versatile buckwheat: reinvigorating genetic gains through integrated breeding and genomics approach

Abstract

Main conclusion Emerging insights in buckwheat molecular genetics allow the integration of genomics driven breeding to revive this ancient crop of immense nutraceutical potential from Asia.Out of several thousand known edible plant species, only four crops-rice, wheat, maize and potato provide the largest proportion of daily nutrition to billions of people. While these crops are the primary supplier of carbohydrates, they lack essential amino acids and minerals for a balanced nutrition. The overdependence on only few crops makes the future cropping systems vulnerable to the predicted climate change. Diversifying food resources through incorporation of orphan or minor crops in modern cropping systems is one potential strategy to improve the nutritional security and mitigate the hostile weather patterns. One such crop is buckwheat, which can contribute to the agricultural sustainability as it grows in a wide range of environments, requires relatively low inputs and possess balanced amino acid and micronutrient profiles. Additionally, gluten-free nature of protein and nutraceutical properties of secondary metabolites make the crop a healthy alternative of wheat-based diet in developed countries. Despite enormous potential, efforts for the genetic improvement of buckwheat are considerably lagged behind the conventional cereal crops. With the draft genome sequences in hand, there is a great scope to speed up the progress of genetic improvement of buckwheat. This article outlines the state of the art in buckwheat research and provides concrete perspectives how modern breeding approaches can be implemented to accelerate the genetic gain. Our suggestions are transferable to many minor and underutilized crops to address the issue of limited genetic gain and low productivity.

The 21st Century Agriculture: When Rice Research Draws Attention to Climate Variability and How Weedy Rice and Underutilized Grains Come in Handy

“…A group of long-overlooked ancient grain crops, such as teff (Eragrostis tef ), quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa), and amaranth (Amaranthus spp.) to name a few, finally received the research attention that they deserve in the last couple of years due mainly to their hardiness, versatility, and exquisite nutritional benefits [1,92,95,96]. These underutilized crops were a staple in their native homes for hundreds of years, and they possess some degree of tolerance to certain stresses, as shown in Table 2 [97][98][99][100][101][102][103][104].…”

Understanding buckwheat allergies for the management of allergic reactions in humans and animals

“…Since patients with celiac disease need to avoid gluten in foods, gluten-free foods have become widely prevalent (Saturni et al 2010) and have become indispensable for people with gluten intolerance (Rai et al 2018). In glutenfree foods, other grains, including common buckwheat, are used instead of wheat (Joshi et al 2019). Common buckwheat contains functional ingredients and no gluten (Gimenez-Bastida and Zielinski 2015, Schoenlechner et al 2010).…”

Applications and Trends of Machine Learning in Genomics and Phenomics for Next-Generation Breeding

“…Recent advances in NGS technologies, computational analysis [5], quantitative genetics [6,7], genomics [8,9], phenomics [10,11] offer the opportunity to enhance crop selection programs through a multidisciplinary process based on data enrichment [12,13]. Array-based genotyping platforms and reduced representation-based methods such as genotyping by sequencing (GBS) or restriction-site associated DNA sequencing (RAD-seq) [14][15][16] drastically reduced the time and costs of analysis, paving a rapid way for genetic diversity studies, quantitative trait loci (QTLs) dissection and identification of genes underpinning traits of agricultural interest.…”