Peanut genome research creates “exceptionally resistant” nuts to further boost yields

28 Apr 2023 --- Genomic investigation on peanut breeding is already delivering results to industry as science solutions have a real-world commercial value impact, according to the Peanut Research Foundation and the American Peanut Council’s ten-year progress report on mapping the peanut genome.

The US$8.4 million Peanut Genome Initiative is the largest research project ever funded by the peanut industry. Growers, shellers and manufacturers equally financed the research.

The research is set to deliver “hundreds of millions of dollars in savings” and additional revenue for the peanut industry through new breeding tools for yield, disease and drought resistance and eventually improved quality traits such as nutrition and flavor.

Scientists note that the research does not lead to genetically modified peanuts but to selective breeding of the nuts and that further research is needed.

“Work remains to get these traits into agronomically acceptable cultivars which can be used by growers. Those discoveries facilitate marker-assisted breeding, making peanut breeding faster, more efficient and more economical,” says Steve Brown, executive director of The Peanut Research Foundation.

Two phase “success”
The peanut breeding research was completed in two phases, from 2013 to 2017 and 2019 to 2023, leading to “real world results.”

The US$8.4 million Peanut Genome Initiative is the largest research project ever funded by the peanut industry.“Phase one of the Peanut Genome Initiative was a huge success in creating peanut genome resources upon which modern peanut breeding technologies could be built,” Brown notes. 

“Because of phase two research, significant achievements in peanut breeding have already been made, including the release of cultivars with exceptional resistance to leaf spot and the discovery of more markers, including one for aflatoxin,” he continues.

The results from phase two will help producers to find beneficial genes in cultivated and wild peanuts that could lead to greater yields, lower production costs and lower losses to disease.   

“Quality traits that benefit consumers, such as better nutrition and flavor, are on the radar,” highlights the study.

Modern peanuts Andean origin
The initial  phase of the research revealed that “the modern-day peanut is the result of a rare natural combination of genomes from two wild peanut species, doubling the number of chromosomes to form today’s peanut.”

According to the research, the combination happened about 10,000 years ago in the foothills of the Andes mountains in western Argentina or southern Bolivia. 

Scientists flag that peanut’s genome “is as large as the human genome,” with more than three billion letters of genetic code.

“This research has achieved many firsts, including mapping the genome of today’s cultivated peanut and its two wild-peanut parents and discovering genetic markers for desirable peanut traits like disease and drought resistance, yield and grade, and aflatoxin resistance,” Brown concludes. 

By Marc Cervera