Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Genome Resources For Climate‐Resilient Cowpea, An Essential Crop For Food Security, Maria Munoz-Amatriain, Hamid Mirebrahim, Pei Xu, Steve Wanamaker, Ming-Cheng Luo, Hind Alhakami, Matthew Alpert, Ibrahim Atokple, Benoit J. Batieno, Ousmane Boukar, Serdar Bozdag, Ndiaga Cisse, Issa Drabo, Jeffrey D. Ehlers, Andrew Farmer, Christian Fatokun, Yong Q. Gu, Yi-Ning Guo, Bao-Lam Huynh, Scott A. Jackson, Francis Kusi, Cynthia T. Lawley, Mitchell R. Lucas, Yaqin Ma, Michael P. Timko, Jiajie Wu, Frank You, Noelle A. Barkley, Philip A. Roberts, Stefano Lonardi, Timothy J. Close

Mathematics, Statistics and Computer Science Faculty Research and Publications

Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata L. Walp.) is a legume crop that is resilient to hot and drought‐prone climates, and a primary source of protein in sub‐Saharan Africa and other parts of the developing world. However, genome resources for cowpea have lagged behind most other major crops. Here we describe foundational genome resources and their application to the analysis of germplasm currently in use in West African breeding programs. Resources developed from the African cultivar IT97K‐499‐35 include a whole‐genome shotgun (WGS) assembly, a bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) physical map, and assembled sequences from 4355 BACs. These resources and WGS sequences of …