Biochemical characterization for determination of genetic distances among different indigenous chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) varieties of North-West Pakistan

Fatty acid composition and genome-wide associations of a chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) diversity panel for biofortification efforts

Chickpea is a nutritionally dense pulse crop with high levels of protein, carbohydrates, micronutrients and low levels of fats. Chickpea fatty acids are associated with a reduced risk of obesity, blood cholesterol, and cardiovascular diseases in humans. We measured four primary chickpea fatty acids; palmitic acid (PA), linoleic acid (LA), alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), and oleic acid (OA), which are crucial for human health and plant stress responses in a chickpea diversity panel with 256 accessions (Kabuli and desi types). A wide concentration range was found for PA (450.7-912.6 mg/100 g), LA (1605.7-3459.9 mg/100 g), ALA (416.4-864.5 mg/100 g), and OA (1035.5-1907.2 mg/100 g). The percent recommended daily allowances also varied for PA (3.3-6.8%), LA (21.4-46.1%), ALA (34.7-72%), and OA (4.3-7.9%). Weak correlations were found among fatty acids. Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) were conducted using genotyping-by-sequencing data. Five significant single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were identified for PA. Admixture population structure analysis revealed seven subpopulations based on ancestral diversity in this panel. This is the first reported study to characterize fatty acid profiles across a chickpea diversity panel and perform GWAS to detect associations between genetic markers and concentrations of selected fatty acids. These findings demonstrate biofortification of chickpea fatty acids is possible using conventional and genomic breeding techniques, to develop superior cultivars with better fatty acid profiles for improved human health and plant stress responses.

Precise Authenticity of Quinoa, Coix Seed, Wild Rice and Chickpea Components Using Optimized TaqMan Real-Time PCR

Functional food such as, quinoa, coix seed, wild rice and chickpea have experienced rapidly increasing demand globally and exhibit high economic values. Nevertheless, a method for rapid yet accurate detection of these source components is absent, making it difficult to identify commercially available food with labels indicating the presence of relevant components. In this study, we constructed a real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) method for rapid detection of quinoa, coix seed, wild rice and chickpea in food to identify the authenticity of such food. Specific primers and probes were designed with 2S albumin genes of quinoa, SAD genes of coix seed, ITS genes of wild rice and CIA-2 genes of chickpea as the target genes. The qPCR method could specifically identify the four wild rice strains, yielding, LODs of 0.96, 1.14, 1.04 and 0.97 pg/µL quinoa, coix seed, wild rice and chickpea source components, respectively. Particularly, the method allowed the identification of the target component with content below 0.01%. A total of 24 commercially available food samples of different types were detected by using the method and the results indicate that the developed method is applicable to the detection of different food matrices, as well as authenticity verification in deeply processed food.