Recent advances in sequencing and computation power have greatly contributed to our knowledge of plant genomics, and the development and use of plant genomic resources will be critical as plant researchers and breeders address future food security in light of the increasing world population, decreasing arable land, and variable effects of climate change. Plants belonging to the mint family provide culinary, medicinal, and cultural value due to their production of secondary metabolites. Genome assemblies and annotations for four important culinary herbs were generated to highlight genes involved in terpenoid biosynthetic pathways. Maize (Zea mays L.) is the most produced crop worldwide due in part to extensive commercial breeding programs. Genome assemblies and annotations for five commercially relevant maize inbred lines belonging to the stiff-stalk heterotic group were generated to characterize the pan-stiff-stalk gene repertoire and genomic regions associated with these founder lines. Tepary bean (Phaseolus acutifolius A. Gray), a close relative of the common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.), is indigenous to the arid climates of northern Mexico and produces high seed yields under drought stress. A diverse panel of tepary bean accessions was assembled, genotyped, and phenotyped to identify genomic regions associated with key agronomic traits that can be harnessed for tepary bean improvement.
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