Agrigenomics

Agricultural genomics, or agrigenomics, is fuelled by advances in computational biology, plant biotechnology and high-throughput omics data acquisition. Agrigenomics is changing traditional crop breeding strategies to accelerate its progress and to produce varieties that can withstand pressure from the spread of plant diseases and pests, climate change, and the growing population. Our work is focussed on identification of the genetic markers linked to desirable traits, informing cultivation and breeding decisions. In addition, we are developing novel computational tools to reconstruct the history of the species domestication, how to identify and annotate mutations accumulated by the cultivated varieties over the last century, how to identify patterns in the genome associated with the response to selection and identify the alleles providing plant adaptation to environmental conditions. 

This work is carried out in collaboration with the University of Taiwan, the universities of Southern California and the State of Vermont (USA), and N.I. Vavilov Russian Institute of Plant Genetic Resources (VIR), St. Petersburg. We are particularly interested in legumes (e.g., chickpea, soyabeans), however we are also involved in projects involving other valuable crops (alfalfa).