Sajad Majeed Zargar¹ , Arjun Sharma¹ , Arun Sadhu¹ , Ganesh Kumar Agrawal² , Randeep Rakwal^2,3,4

1. School of Biotechnology, SK University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology Chatha, Jammu 180009, Jammu and Kashmir, India
2. Research Laboratory for Biotechnology and Biochemistry (RLABB), GPO Box 13265, Kathmandu, Nepal
3. Organization for Educational Initiatives, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba 305-8577, Japan
4. Department of Anatomy I, Showa University School of Medicine, 1-5-8 Hatanodai, Shinagawa, Tokyo 142-8555, Japan
Author    Correspondence author
Molecular Plant Breeding, 2014, Vol. 5, No. 2   doi: 10.5376/mpb.2014.05.0002
Received: 29 Nov., 2013    Accepted: 30 Dec., 2013    Published: 05 Jan., 2014

This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Zargar et al., 2014, Exploring Genetic Diversity in Common Bean From Unexploited Regions of Jammu & Kashmir-India, Molecular Plant Breeding, Vol.5, No. 2 5-9 (doi: 10.5376/mpb.2014.05.0002)

Genetic diversity analysis is a first essential step in understanding the genetic base of the germplasm. Our group is focusing on the common bean, and in the present study, for its improvement a genetic diversity study has been initiated in the laboratory. Since our focus is on the regions (in Jammu and Kashmir, India), which are unexploited and are dominated by the resource-poor farmers, we believe that the genetic stock collection in our hands is unique. It is emphasized that this project forms a platform for the initiation of multidimensional research aspects. In this context, OMICS (phenomics, genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabolomics) based approaches will be powerful tools and their integrated mode essential in deciphering the regulatory mechanisms governing various traits. As a first step, the cataloging of this unique germplasm will form a foundation for identification of unique characters in each genotype. Hence, our immediate focus will be to estimate total protein and important micronutrients (mainly zinc and iron) among these genotypes and design a strategy to introgress stress tolerance genes in the different genetic backgrounds for the improvement of common bean as a future target.

Common beans; Diversity; Molecular markers