Economically, legumes (Fabaceae) represent the second most important family of crop plants after the grass family, Poaceae. Grain legumes account for 27% of world crop production and provide 33% of the dietary protein consumed by humans, while pasture and forage legumes provide vital part of animal feed. Fabaceae, the third largest family of flowering plants, has traditionally been divided into the following three subfamilies: Caesalpinioideae, Mimosoideae, and Papilionoideae, all together with 800 genera and 20,000 species. The latter subfamily contains most of the major cultivated food and feed crops. Among the grain legumes are some of mankind's earliest crop plants, whose domestication parallelled that of cereals: Soybean in China; faba bean, lentil, chickpea and pea in the Fertile Crescent of the Near East; cowpeas and bambara groundnut in Africa; soybean and mungbeans in East Asia; pigeonpea and the grams in South Asia; and common bean, lima bean, scarlet runner bean, tepary bean and lupin in Central and South America. The importance of legumes is evidenced by their high representation in ex situ germplasm collections, with more than 1,000,000 accessions worldwide. A detailed knowledge of the phylogenetic relationships of the Fabaceae is essential for understanding the origin and diversification of this economically and ecologically important family of angiosperms. This review aims to combine the phylogenetic and genetic diversity approaches to better illustrate the origin, domestication history and preserved germplasm of major legume crops from 13 genera of six tribes and to indicate further potential both for science and agriculture.

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Legume Crops Phylogeny and Genetic Diversity for Science and Breeding

Biotic and abiotic stresses cause significant yield losses in legumes and can significantly affect their productivity. Biotechnology tools such as marker-assisted breeding, tissue culture, in vitro mutagenesis and genetic transformation can contribute to solve or reduce some of these constraints. However, only limited success has been achieved so far. The emergence of “omic” technologies and the establishment of model legume plants such as Medicago truncatula and Lotus japonicus are promising strategies for understanding the molecular genetic basis of stress resistance, which is an important bottleneck for molecular breeding. Understanding the mechanisms that regulate the expression of stress-related genes is a fundamental issue in plant biology and will be necessary for the genetic improvement of legumes. In this review, we describe the current status of biotechnology approaches in relation to biotic and abiotic stresses in legumes and how these useful tools could be used to improve resistance to important constraints affecting legume crops.

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Biotechnology approaches to overcome biotic and abiotic stress constraints in legumes

With 2 figures and 2 tables



Abstract

Pulses are important sources of proteins in vegetarian diet. However, genetic improvement in production and productivity of pulse crops has been very slow owing to several constraints. The present view of researchers is that the effectiveness and efficiency of conventional breeding can be significantly improved by using molecular markers. Nowadays, molecular markers are routinely utilized worldwide in all major crops as a component of breeding. The pace of development of molecular markers and other genomic sources has been accelerated in chickpea, pigeon pea and some other pulses, and marker–trait associations have been established for a number of important agronomic traits. The efforts are underway to use high-throughput genotyping platforms besides developing more genomic resources in other pulses. So far, progress in the use of marker-assisted selection as a part of pulse breeding programmes has been very slow and limited to few pulse crops such as chickpea and common bean. In this article, we have reviewed the progress made, limitations encountered and future possibilities for the application of marker-assisted selection in the genetic improvement of pulse crops.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1439-0523.2011.01851.x

Towards marker-assisted selection in pulses: a review

Yield stability of legume crops is constrained by a number of pest and diseases Major diseases are rusts, powdery and downy mildews, ascochyta blights, botrytis gray molds, anthracnoses, damping-off, root rots, collar rots, vascular wilts and white molds Parasitic weeds, viruses, bacteria, nematodes and damages caused by chewing and sap-sucking insects add to this long list of constraints for legume production Their incidence and relative importance together with current understanding of their interactions with the host plants are presented State of the art of current achievements and limitations for breeding for biotic stress resistance are listed and critically discussed The recent development of large scale phenotyping, genome sequencing and analysis of gene, protein and metabolite expressions can be of great help to further decipher plant-pathogen interactions and identify key resistance components that may be introgressed into crop plants through breeding

https://digital.csic.es/bitstream/10261/160300/1/legume_breeding_Rubiales.pdf

Achievements and Challenges in Legume Breeding for Pest and Disease Resistance

Faba bean breeding for disease resistance

Soil-borne fungal diseases are among the most important factors, limiting the yield of grain legumes in many countries worldwide. Root rot, caused by Aphanomyces euteiches, Rhizoctonia solani, Fusarium solani and wilt, caused by several formae speciales of Fusarium oxysporum are the most destructive soil-borne diseases of pea, chickpea, lentil, fababean and lupin. The most effective control of these diseases is achieved through the use of resistant varieties. In this paper, recent advances in conventional and innovative screening methods for disease resistance are presented. Many grain legume accessions, which are maintained in national and international germplasm collections, have been evaluated for disease resistance and numerous resistant varieties have been released following incorporation of identified resistance genes from these sources. Recent identification of molecular markers tightly linked to resistance genes has greatly enhanced breeding programs by making marker assisted selection (MAS) possible and allowing the development of varieties with multiple disease resistance. Progress in the understanding of the biology of soil-borne fungal pathogens of grain legumes is also reviewed with particular reference to the genetic structure of their populations, diagnosis and host-pathogen interaction.

Screening techniques and sources of resistance to root diseases in cool season food legumes

The fast and continued progress of high-throughput sequencing (HTS) and the drastic reduction of its costs have boosted new and unpredictable developments in the field of plant pathology. The cost of whole-genome sequencing, which, until few years ago, was prohibitive for many projects, is now so affordable that a new branch, phylogenomics, is being developed. Fungal taxonomy is being deeply influenced by genome comparison, too. It is now easier to discover new genes as potential targets for an accurate diagnosis of new or emerging pathogens, notably those of quarantine concern. Similarly, with the development of metabarcoding and metagenomics techniques, it is now possible to unravel complex diseases or answer crucial questions, such as “What’s in my soil?”, to a good approximation, including fungi, bacteria, nematodes, etc. The new technologies allow to redraw the approach for disease control strategies considering the pathogens within their environment and deciphering the complex interactions between microorganisms and the cultivated crops. This kind of analysis usually generates big data that need sophisticated bioinformatic tools (machine learning, artificial intelligence) for their management. Herein, examples of the use of new technologies for research in fungal diversity and diagnosis of some fungal pathogens are reported.

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New-Generation Sequencing Technology in Diagnosis of Fungal Plant Pathogens: A Dream Comes True?

BACKGROUND
Despite being previously considered as congenital lesions, recent studies agree to classify Cerebral Cavernous Malformations (CCM) as acquired forms with clear correlations with other pathological affections of the Central Nervous System (CNS). In addition, a special subgroup, notably known as "de Novo" CCMs (dnCCM), are associated in a significant number of cases with Developmental Venous Anomalies (DVAs) and, in other cases, with Radiotherapy treatments.


METHODS
A mini-series of 4 patients with clinical history characterized by developing dnCCM is reported. In three patients, the dnCCM was associated with the presence of an isolated DVA. In one case, no DVA was detected, but the patient underwent brain radiotherapy. In three cases, the dnCCM was clinically symptomatic, and the patients were submitted to a surgical procedure for lesion removal. In one case, the dnCCM was detected during MRI follow-up.


RESULTS
Adding a review of the literature, we describe 47 patients who presented dnCCMs. The most common presentation is a sporadic CCM with a DVA, and the onset presentation was bleeding in 4 out of 47 cases (8,5%). Bleeding of dnCCM was observed in 9 out of 47 cases (19 %), and the choice treatment was surgical in 24 out of 47 cases (51%).


DISCUSSIONS
We present our series with a review of the recent literature and discuss the "de novo" cavernous malformation pathogenesis. A throughout review of recent literature is reported to clarify the predisposing factors that may lead to dnCCM development in patients carrying specific genetic and molecular features. Considering the high risk of bleeding, strict follow-up and aggressive treatment should be evaluated in dnCCM management.

De novo Cavernous Angiomas associated with Developmental Venous Anomaly: a mini-series and literature review.

ABSTRACT Eccrine angiomatous hamartoma (EAH) is a rare hamartoma characterized by a benign proliferation of eccrine glands and vascular structures in the dermis. These tumors rarely regress spontaneously, so surgical excision of the involved tissue is required when pain or enlargement occurs. Here, the authors report the clinical case of a patient affected by an extremely painful EAH with the atypical localization at the last phalanx of the thumb of the right hand with involvement of nail matrix and nail bed. This report aims to emphasize the application of Mohs micrographic surgery for the treatment of painful EAH in a very difficult area at potential risk of amputation while preserving the maximum anatomical integrity and function of the damaged area. These results can pave the way for the use of Mohs micrographic surgery for very carefully selected benign neoplasms when their surgical removal is required.

Luca Riccioni

Papers

Screening techniques and sources of resistance to root diseases in cool season food legumes

New-Generation Sequencing Technology in Diagnosis of Fungal Plant Pathogens: A Dream Comes True?

De novo Cavernous Angiomas associated with Developmental Venous Anomaly: a mini-series and literature review.

Eccrine Angiomatous Hamartoma with Atypical Localization Treated by Mohs Micrographic Surgery

Highly specific qPCR and amplicon sequencing method for detection of quarantine citrus pathogen Phyllosticta citricarpa applicable for air samples