The giant diploid faba genome unlocks variation in a global protein crop

Publisher Copyright: © 2023, The Author(s).Increasing the proportion of locally produced plant protein in currently meat-rich diets could substantially reduce greenhouse gas emissions and loss of biodiversity1. However, plant protein production is hampered by the lack of a cool-season legume equivalent to soybean in agronomic value2. Faba bean (Vicia faba L.) has a high yield potential and is well suited for cultivation in temperate regions, but genomic resources are scarce. Here, we report a high-quality chromosome-scale assembly of the faba bean genome and show that it has expanded to a massive 13 Gb in size through an imbalance between the rates of amplification and elimination of retrotransposons and satellite repeats. Genes and recombination events are evenly dispersed across chromosomes and the gene space is remarkably compact considering the genome size, although with substantial copy number variation driven by tandem duplication. Demonstrating practical application of the genome sequence, we develop a targeted genotyping assay and use high-resolution genome-wide association analysis to dissect the genetic basis of seed size and hilum colour. The resources presented constitute a genomics-based breeding platform for faba bean, enabling breeders and geneticists to accelerate the improvement of sustainable protein production across the Mediterranean, subtropical and northern temperate agroecological zones.Peer reviewe

Assessing the performance of a commercial multisensory sleep tracker.

Wearable sleep technology allows for a less intruding sleep assessment than PSG, especially in long-term sleep monitoring. Though such devices are less accurate than PSG, sleep trackers may still provide valuable information. This study aimed to validate a commercial sleep tracker, Garmin Vivosmart 4 (GV4), against polysomnography (PSG) and to evaluate intra-device reliability (GV4 vs. GV4). Eighteen able-bodied adults (13 females, M = 56.1 ± 12.0 years) with no self-reported sleep disorders were simultaneously sleep monitored by GV4 and PSG for one night while intra-device reliability was monitored in one participant for 23 consecutive nights. Intra-device agreement was considered sufficient (observed agreement = 0.85 ± 0.13, Cohen's kappa = 0.68 ± 0.24). GV4 detected sleep with high accuracy (0.90) and sensitivity (0.98) but low specificity (0.28). Cohen's kappa was calculated for sleep/wake detection (0.33) and sleep stage detection (0.20). GV4 significantly underestimated time awake (p = 0.001) including wake after sleep onset (WASO) (p = 0.001), and overestimated light sleep (p = 0.045) and total sleep time (TST) (p = 0.001) (paired t-test). Sleep onset and sleep end differed insignificantly from PSG values. Our results suggest that GV4 is not able to reliably describe sleep architecture but may allow for detection of changes in sleep onset, sleep end, and TST (ICC ≥ 0.825) in longitudinally followed groups. Still, generalizations are difficult due to our sample limitations

The giant diploid faba genome unlocks variation in a global protein crop

International audienceIncreasing the proportion of locally produced plant protein in currently meat-rich diets could substantially reduce greenhouse gas emissions and loss of biodiversity1. However, plant protein production is hampered by the lack of a cool-season legume equivalent to soybean in agronomic value2. Faba bean (Vicia faba L.) has a high yield potential and is well suited for cultivation in temperate regions, but genomic resources are scarce. Here, we report a high-quality chromosome-scale assembly of the faba bean genome and show that it has expanded to a massive 13 Gb in size through an imbalance between the rates of amplification and elimination of retrotransposons and satellite repeats. Genes and recombination events are evenly dispersed across chromosomes and the gene space is remarkably compact considering the genome size, although with substantial copy number variation driven by tandem duplication. Demonstrating practical application of the genome sequence, we develop a targeted genotyping assay and use high-resolution genome-wide association analysis to dissect the genetic basis of seed size and hilum colour. The resources presented constitute a genomics-based breeding platform for faba bean, enabling breeders and geneticists to accelerate the improvement of sustainable protein production across the Mediterranean, subtropical and northern temperate agroecological zones