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Induced mutation has been playing a significant role in the improvement of diverse crop types. This led to the release of over 3200 crop varieties in over 70 countries. We implemented induced mutation on tef (Eragrostis tef (Zucc.) Trotter), one of the most important cereal crops in the Horn of Africa, especially in Ethiopia, where it is annually cultivated on over 3 million hectares of land, equivalent to 30% of the total area allocated to cereals. Although tef is extensively cultivated in Ethiopia due to its resilience to diverse environmental stresses, the productivity of the crop is very low. The Tef Improvement Project based at the University of Bern in Switzerland employs mutation breeding to tackle major constraints in tef in order to enhance crop productivity. About 12,000 EMS (ethyl methanesulfonate) mutagenized M2 families were generated from four improved tef varieties, namely ���Tsedey���, ���Dukem���, ���Kora��� and ���Dagim���. Screening for major traits of importance helped us to obtain several candidate lines, including semi-dwarf and lodging-tolerant, drought-tolerant and acid-soil-tolerant lines. Among these, the most promising ones were introgressed to locally adapted improved varieties followed by several years of testing at representative locations for traits of interest. As a result, a new variety called ���Tesfa��� with a novel and desirable combination of traits was approved for release to the farming community. This shows that the project has been actively involved in all three phases of induced mutation: mutation induction, mutation detection and mutation breeding.

Genome-wide knowledge about the nature and extent of genetic diversity present in tef (Eragrostis tef), the most consumed food grain in Ethiopia is limited. Adopting next generation sequencing (NGS) protocols to enhance its genomics and breeding is essential. Here, we applied the Restriction Site Associated DNA (RAD) sequencing protocol and surveyed the genomes of 43 tef landraces, one mutant line and two wild Eragrostis species. After mapping sequencing reads to the de novo assembled unitag and the tef reference genome, a total of 9,024 and 58,735 high quality single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were identified, respectively. We identified greater number of SNPs and greater nucleotide diversity in the two wild Eragrostis species than in the tef landraces. The tef landrace populations in this study were poorly differentiated with FST values of 0.015. In the phylogenetic analysis, grouping of the landraces was not consistent with the area of collection, but few localized grouping of the landraces was evident, probably showing the communality of tef seed use across geographical boundaries. The improved tef varieties show reduced genetic diversity compared to the landraces and were all grouped into one cluster reflecting the nature of tef breeding which largely targets common genomic regions. We suggest that future work needs to aim beyond common genomic regions. The work presented here is a valuable addition to the growing molecular resources developed for tef genetic improvement., ጤፍ በኢትዮጵያ የተገኘ እና በኢትዮጵያዊያን አርሶአደሮች ለብዙ አመታት ሲመረት የኖረ ዘርፈ ብዙ ጥቅሞች ያሉት የሰብል አይነት ነዉ፡፡ ጤፍ የሚመረተውና ጥቅም ላይ የሚውለው በአብዛኛው በኢትዮጵያ በመሆኑ በአለም አቀፍ ደረጃ ጤፍ ላይ የሚደረጉ ምርምሮች ውሱን ናቸው፡፡ በተለይ የጤፍን ምርምር ለማሳለጥ የተዘጋጁ የሞለኪውላር ሳይንስ ግብአቶች ውሱን በመሆናቸው በሌሎች ሰብሎች ላይ ጥቅም ላይ የዋሉ የዲ ኤን ኤ ሲኩዌንሲንግ ቴክኖሎጂን መሰረት ያደረጉ የምርምር አቅጣጫዎችን መከተል ወሳኝ ነው፡፡ እዚህ በቀረበው የምርምር ስራ የዲ ኤን ኤ ሲኩዌንሲንግ ቴክኖሎጂን መሰረት ያደረገን የምርምር ስልት በመከተል ከአገሪቱ የተለያዩ አካባቢዎች የተሰበሰቡ አርባ ሁለት የጤፍ ዝርያዎች፡ አንድ ሚውታንት ላይን እና ሁለት ለጤፍ ቅርብ የሆኑ ዋይልድ ሬላቲቭስ ላይ ጥናት ተደርጎ የጤፍን ምርምር በዘመናዊ መልኩ የሚያግዙ ግብአቶች ተገኝተዋል፡፡

Indigenous crops also known as orphan crops are key contributors to food security, which is becoming increasingly vulnerable with the current trend of population growth and climate change. They have the major advantage that they fit well into the general socio-economic and ecological context of developing world agriculture. However, most indigenous crops did not benefit from the Green Revolution, which dramatically increased the yield of major crops such as wheat and rice. Here, we describe the Tef Improvement Project, which employs both conventional- and molecular-breeding techniques to improve tef—an orphan crop important to the food security in the Horn of Africa, a region of the world with recurring devastating famines. We have established an efficient pipeline to bring improved tef lines from the laboratory to the farmers of Ethiopia. Of critical importance to the long-term success of this project is the cooperation among participants in Ethiopia and Switzerland, including donors, policy makers, research institutions, and farmers. Together, European and African scientists have developed a pipeline using breeding and genomic tools to improve the orphan crop tef and bring new cultivars to the farmers in Ethiopia. We highlight a new variety, Tesfa, developed in this pipeline and possessing a novel and desirable combination of traits. Tesfa’s recent approval for release illustrates the success of the project and marks a milestone as it is the first variety (of many in the pipeline) to be released., Euphytica, 214 (2), ISSN:0014-2336, ISSN:1573-5060

Tef [Eragrostis tef (Zucc.) Trotter], a staple food crop in the Horn of Africa and particularly in Ethiopia, has several beneficial agronomical and nutritional properties, including waterlogging and drought tolerance. In this study, we performed microRNA profiling of tef using the Illumina HiSeq 2500 platform, analyzing both shoots and roots of two tef genotypes, one drought-tolerant (Tsedey) and one drought-susceptible (Alba). We obtained more than 10 million filtered reads for each of the 24 sequenced small cDNA libraries. Reads mapping to known miRNAs were more abundant in the root than shoot tissues. Thirteen and 35 miRNAs were significantly modulated in response to drought, in Alba and Tsedey roots, respectively. One miRNA was upregulated under drought conditions in both genotypes. In shoots, nine miRNAs were modulated in common between the two genotypes and all showed similar trends of expression. One-hundred and forty-seven new miRNA mature sequences were identified in silico, 22 of these were detected in all relevant samples and seven were differentially regulated when comparing drought with normal watering. Putative targets of the miRNA regulated under drought in root and shoot tissues were predicted. Among the targets were transcription factors such as CCAAT-HAP2, MADS and NAC. Verification with qRT-PCR revealed that five of six potential targets showed a pattern of expression that was consistent with the correspondent miRNA amount measured by RNA-Seq. In general, candidate miRNAs involved in the post-transcriptional regulation of the tef response to drought could be included in next-generation breeding programs.