Lupinus

Abstract

Lupinus genus is one of the most diverse and widespread taxonomic groups of flowering plants. Its wild species occur naturally in the Mediterranean region including areas of northern Africa and in North and South America. During early time of colonization, many of them were introduced to southern Africa and Australia. Apart from interest in lupins as ornamental plants, some species were used in ancient agriculture for seed, green manure, or forage. Only a few of them were fully domesticated in the latter half of the twentieth century and became important crop plants. The agricultural potential of three of them (L. albus, L. angustifolius and L. luteus) only recently have gained acceptance of agricultural market. Despite the measurable progress in domestication and providing of lupins as a source of high-protein feed and food product, they are still considered as a neglected crop on the worldwide scale. Further progress in improvement of lupin crops or domestication of additional lupin species depends on extension of basic research of the lupin genome. Substantial progress has been made in this area in recent years. The phylogeny and evolutionary aspects of relationships among lupin taxa were investigated using whole genome size differences and selected gene sequence variability. New saturated genetic maps containing many sequence-defined markers and loci of domesticated traits were constructed, and some comparative mapping approaches showed synteny extent among lupin and model species genomes. Cytogenetic techniques such as FISH and PRINS were used for identification of specific chromosomes and their integration with linkage groups of genetic map. The cDNA and BAC libraries have become tools for partial sequencing of interesting genome regions as well as identification and cloning of genes. Basic knowledge on lupin genome structure and organization has provided an opportunity for searching for markers linked with agricultural traits and support the traditional breeding with the selection of desirable genotypes.