Lathyrus
Lathyrus sativus (grass pea or chickling vetch, guaya in Ethiopia, khesari in India) is a daily food for millions in Asia and Africa. It was already harvested in neolithic times and is still a popular and promising crop, producing the cheapest dietary protein available. The plant is probably the most drought tolerant legume crop and resistant to moderate salinity. The plant is notorious for its ability to withstand flooding and drought, and in drought-prone areas, it is considered an insurance crop and survival food for subsistence farmers. During drought-triggered famines, grass pea can be the only food available.
As with all legumes, grass pea is deficient in the sulfur amino acids methionine and cysteine, thus not a well-balanced nutrient. Besides this, the seeds contain variable amounts of a neuro-excitatory amino acid b-oxalyl-L-a,b-diaminopropionic acid or ODAP. This is considered the cause of the crippling disease neurolathyrism, a neurodegenerative disease often occurring in epidemics (up to 6% of the population) after famines in the Indian subcontinent or Ethiopia, when grass pea seed has been the exclusive or main food for several months.
Goals
- Prevention of neurolathyrism by improving the nutritional quality and the economic value of grass pea
- Developing transformation protocols for Lathyrus, based on the successful transformation of Phaseolus species
- Isolation of drought/salt tolerant genes (funding sought)
- Isolation of methionine enriched cell lines and somaclones
Partners
- Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR) “Nutritional Improvement of Grass Pea (Lathyrus sativus)” – Five years collaborative project with EIAR financed by the Belgian Government through the Flemish Interuniversity Council – started on May 1st 2004.
- College of Pharmacy of Nihon University, research group on Pharmacology, Japan.
- Dept of Basic Medical Sciences at Ghent University.