ABSTRACT
Legumes belong to the family Fabaceae (or Leguminosea), subfamily Papilionoideae. The common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) belongs to its section Phaseoli. The Fabaceae family includes about 650 genera and 18,000 species, thus making it the third largest family within the plant kingdom (Doyle 2001). Legumes are podded plants that have been part of the human diet since the dawn of agriculture and are cultivated worldwide. The major legumes include soybean, ground
CONTENTS
12.1 Common Bean: Importance and Need for Improvement ..................................................... 271 12.2 Genomics Approach ............................................................................................................. 272
12.2.1 Need for Genetic Diversity Studies .......................................................................... 276 12.2.2 Genomics Approaches for Identification and Introgression of Stress
Resistance Genes ...................................................................................................... 277 12.2.2.1 Gene Discovery: Identification of Resistance Gene(s) ............................... 278 12.2.2.2 Identification of Linked Markers and Molecular Breeding for
Introgression of Resistance Gene(s) ...........................................................284 12.2.3 Transgenics and Transgenic Breeding: An Option ...................................................285
12.3 Proteomics Approach ...........................................................................................................287 12.3.1 Need for Proteomics Study: Major Focus on Signaling against Stress ....................287 12.3.2 Plant Proteomics: Technological Update ..................................................................288 12.3.3 Proteomics Studies in Beans: A Few Examples ....................................................... 289 12.3.4 Subproteomic Analyses ............................................................................................290
12.4 Beyond Proteomics Approach: Need for Adoption of Metabolomics-and Ionomics-Based Approaches ................................................................................................ 291
12.5 Future Perspectives ............................................................................................................... 291 12.6 Summary .............................................................................................................................. 291 Acknowledgments ..........................................................................................................................292 References ......................................................................................................................................292
