Groundnut Kernel Transcriptome

Groundnut flowers aerially and buries the fertilized ovules in the soil for seed (kernel) development and this makes the journey of kernel development very interesting in addition to its importance in oilseed and food industry. Transcriptomics approaches have been widely deployed in order to develop a better understanding on kernel development, dormancy, fatty acids, nutritional and oil quality; and anti-nutritional/food safety features such as aflatoxin contamination and allergens in groundnut. Although there have been ample efforts towards understanding molecular mechanism and pathways for many of the above kernel features, significant progress has only been made in understanding the fatty acid synthesis pathways and discovery and validation of FAD2 genes. As a result, the FAD2 genes were targeted in breeding programs for achieving the desired profile of three major fatty acids namely oleic, linoleic and palmitic acids. This chapter reviews the current understanding of kernel features developed through transcriptomics approaches and the additional challenges and opportunities remaining. The recent availability of cost-effective next-generation sequencing approaches, a high-quality reference genome, and improved bioinformatics analysis offers great potential in the precise discovery of pathways and candidate gene(s) that can be deployed in groundnut kernel improvement.