Scientists unlock peanut genome

FUZHOU - A research team has completed the genome sequencing of the cultivated peanut plant, the first time that genome sequencing of the entire peanut plant has been carried out in the world, and the plant's gene functional groups implicated in seed oil content and disease resistance got revealed.

The research was led by the Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University in East China's Fujian province and jointly carried out by 78 international researchers from 23 institutions in China, the United States and India, among other countries.

Zhuang Weijian, the leading scientist on the research team at the university, says the genome is large, complex and difficult to decode.