Once referred to as an "orphan crop" grown mainly by poor farmers, pigeonpea is now joining the world's league of major food crops with the completion of its genome sequence. The completed genome sequence of pigeonpea is featured as an advance online publication on November 6, 2011 on the website of the journal Nature Biotechnology. The paper provides an overview of the structure and function of the genes that define the pigeonpea plant. It also reveals clues on how the genomic sequence can be useful to crop improvement for sustainable food production particularly in the marginal environments of Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. Years of genome analysis by a global research partnership led by the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) based in Hyderabad, India have resulted in the identification of 48,680 pigeonpea genes. A couple of hundreds of these genes were found unique to the crop in terms of drought tolerance, an important trait that can be transferred to other similar crops like soybean, cowpea, or common bean that belong to the same family. In the fight against poverty and hunger amid the threat of climate change, highly nutritious, drought-tolerant crops are the best bets for smallholder farmers in marginal environments to survive and improve their livelihoods. Pigeonpea, grown on about 5 million hectares in Asia, sub-Saharan Africa, and South-Central America, is a very important food legume for millions of the poor in the semi-arid regions of the world. Known as the "poor people's meat" because of its high protein content, it provides a well-balanced diet when accompanied with cereals. "The mapping of the pigeonpea genome is a breakthrough that could not have come at a better time.Login Or Register To Read Full Story