White lupin: the genome of this legume has finally been sequenced

Biology
Environment

White lupin is a particularly abstemious crop, requiring very little fertiliser and producing high-protein seeds of great nutritive quality. The plant has just yielded the secrets of its genome thanks to the collaboration of eleven French and foreign laboratories coordinated by Benjamin Péret, a CNRS researcher at the Biochimie et physiologie moléculaire des plantes laboratory (CNRS/Inrae/Université de Montpellier/Montpellier SupAgro). Lupin has the distinctive feature of possessing “proteoid” or cluster roots, which enable it to solubilise phosphate and extract it efficiently. However, similar to petroleum, stocks of this vital component are limited and currently being depleted. Knowing the plant’s genome could accelerate programmes for lupin selection and help make this legume a major asset in future plant-based protein production. The results of this project financed by an ERC Starting Grant were published on 24 January 2020 in the journal Nature Communications.

White lupin has a root system that is highly adapted for poor soils thanks to its proteoid or cluster roots, which allow it to extract phosphate from the soil very effectively. The mapping of its genome represents a major step toward understanding this mechanism.
© Benjamin Péret/CNRS

 

Bibliography

High-quality genome sequence of white lupin provides insight into soil exploration and seed quality. Bárbara Hufnagel, André Marques, Alexandre Soriano, Laurence Marquès, Fanchon Divol, Patrick Doumas, Erika Sallet, Davide Mancinotti, Sébastien Carrere, William Marande, Sandrine Arribat, Jean Keller, Cécile Huneau, Thomas Blein, Delphine Aimé, Malika Laguerre, Jemma Taylor, Veit Schubert, Matthew Nelson, Fernando Geu-Flores, Martin Crespi, Karine Gallardo, Pierre-Marc Delaux, Jérôme Salse, Hélène Bergès, Romain Guyot, Jérôme Gouzy and Benjamin Péret. Nature Communications, January 24 2020.

Contact

Benjamin Péret
Chercheur du CNRS
François Maginiot
CNRS Press Officer