Advances in Sweetpotato and Yam Genomics

Rising global populations and changing dietary expectations require dramatic increases in global food production in the coming decades, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa. To minimize environmental impact, higher crop productivity will be essential to meet this requirement. Tropical root and tuber crops such as sweetpotato and yam, are important food crops in Africa but have relatively short histories of modern breeding, with potential for significant yield increases through more efficient breeding. This could be accelerated by modern breeding tools, including genomic tools. Sweetpotato and food yams (Dioscorea rotundata) have recently been added to the list of crops with reference genome sequences. This is an exciting time for genomic tools for sweetpotato and yam, and the workshop should deliver a series of interesting and informative talks that bring many more scientists up to date on recent developments for these important root and tuber crops.