ICAR Develops India’s First Complete Pigeonpea Genome
New Delhi, Aug. 4 (TNT): The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) has achieved a major scientific breakthrough by developing India’s first fully annotated telomere-to-telomere (T2T) reference genome of pigeonpea (Cajanus cajan L. Millsp.) variety ‘Asha’, a development expected to accelerate the breeding of climate-resilient and high-yielding pulse varieties.
Pigeonpea, popularly known as Arhar or Tur, is one of India’s most important pulse crops and a major source of dietary protein, the Council said in a release here on Tuesday.
The breakthrough builds on the pioneering work of the ICAR-National Institute for Plant Biotechnology (ICAR-NIPB), New Delhi, which in 2011 published the world’s first draft genome of a pulse crop and the first crop genome to be sequenced entirely in India.
An improved draft genome followed in 2017, while the latest achievement provides the crop’s complete telomere-to-telomere (T2T) genome sequence.
According to ICAR, the newly developed genome comprises 752.65 million base pairs of DNA assembled into 92 contigs, providing a complete representation of all 11 chromosomes of pigeonpea.
The genome assembly, designated NIPB_CcT2T_4, has been deposited in the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) database under accession number GCF_000230855.1.
The genome includes all 11 centromeres and 22 telomeres, while comprehensive genome annotation identified 36,557 genes producing 48,008 messenger RNA (mRNA) sequences.
Transcriptome mapping recorded more than 99.9 per cent read alignment, confirming the accuracy and completeness of the genome assembly.
ICAR said the fully annotated reference genome will serve as a key national genomic resource for advanced gene discovery, pangenome analysis, molecular breeding and genome-editing research.
It is expected to accelerate the development of climate-resilient, high-yielding and nutritionally enriched pigeonpea varieties, strengthening India’s pulse improvement programme.
The organisation said the breakthrough would benefit scientists, plant breeders and farmers by improving productivity, enhancing farmer incomes and contributing to the country’s food and nutritional security.
ICAR noted that it continues to support pulse production through the development of improved varieties, breeder seed production, multi-location trials, technology demonstrations through its institutes and Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs), and scientific support for farmers.
The council also highlighted the Government’s Mission for Aatmanirbharta in Pulses (2025-26 to 2030-31), which aims to achieve self-sufficiency in pulse production, reduce import dependence and increase domestic pulse output to about 35 million tonnes by 2030-31 through improved seeds, technology adoption, assured procurement and strengthened post-harvest infrastructure.
TNT KS
