The Sweetpotato Genome

This open access book is a compilation of advances in sweetpotato genomics, which have been used to improve our understanding of the evolution of sweetpotato, increase our knowledge of crop growth and development, and provided critical information required for genomic-assisted breeding in sweetpotato.  Sweetpotato is a critical food staple for millions of people in the developing world that has long been considered an under-resourced, orphan crop.  However, this perception is changing, and significantly, more resources have been devoted to the improvement of sweetpotato in both the private and public sectors around the world during the last decade. 

Its twelve chapters review the changing food security and commercial food product landscape of sweetpotato in the developed and developing world, global wild and cultivated genome sequencing efforts in sweetpotato, the evolution of molecular markers and the development of novel polyploid linkage mapping, quantitative trait loci and genomic selection strategies required for gene discovery in this complex crop, and the use of these new tool in sweetpotato crop improvement programs around the globe.

This book is useful to students, teachers, and scientists in universities, research institutes, and private companies.

Sweetpotato An Orphan Crop No More.- US Efforts in Sweetpotato Genome Sequencing Advances in the Development of Reference Genomes to Facilitate Research and Breeding of a Key Food Security Crop.

Dr. G. Craig Yencho is a William Neal Reynolds Distinguished Professor, and he leads the Sweetpotato and Potato Breeding programs at NC State University. He has over 25 years of experience in plant breeding, and his variety development efforts are focused on the genetic mapping of important traits in potato and sweetpotato; the development of value-added and bio-based products in both crops; and international agriculture, primarily in sub-Saharan Africa.

Dr. Bode Olukolu is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology at the University of Tennessee – Knoxville, Institute of Agriculture. His research focuses on dissecting genome structure and function to better understand: Complex plant-pathogen interactions, the influence of the microbiome on plant disease resistance, and genetic factors underlying traits and their application for marker-assisted and genomic selection.

Dr. Sachiko Isobe is the Laboratory Head of Plant Genomics and Genetics at the Kazusa DNA Research Institute in Kisarazu, Chiba, Japan. She started her career as a conventional red clover breeder in 1997. Dr. Isobe’s research team is performing de novo whole genome sequencing, DNA marker development, linkage map construction, QTL identification and marker assisted selection for diverse plant species and they have performed sequencing and analysis of the genomes such as sweetpotato, strawberry, and forages with collaborators in Japan, China, USA and several countries in the world.