SALVIA HISPANICA L. (COMMONLY KNOWN AS CHIA) HAS BEEN DOMESTICATED CENTURIES AGO AND IN PRE-COLUMBIAN MESOAMERICA, CHIA WAS ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT FOOD SOURCES. HOWEVER, AFTER SPANISH COLONIZATION, CULTIVATION LEVELS DRASTICALLY PLUMMETED. NOWADAYS, CHIA IS REGAINING POPULARITY WORLDWIDE AND SPECIALLY IN US AS A HEALTHY OIL AND FOOD SUPPLEMENT DUE TO ITS FAVORABLE OIL COMPOSITION, AND HIGH PROTEIN, FIBER, AND ANTIOXIDANT CONTENTS. CHIA SEED OIL HAS REMARKABLY HIGH POLYUNSATURATED FATTY ACID (PUFA) AND VERY LOW SATURATED FATTY ACID (SFA) CONTENT. IN LIGHT OF RECENT STUDIES THAT LINK DISEASES SUCH AS DIABETES, OBESITY, AND CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASES WITH HIGH SFA AND LOW PUFA, CHIA SEED IS CONSIDERED A HEALTHY FOOD SUPPLEMENT. INCREASING CONTEMPORARY DEMAND FOR THIS NUTRITIONALLY VALUABLE CROP IS UNDENIABLE. THE US IMPORT OF CHIA SEED INCREASED 7.5 TIMES SINCE 2011, MAKING US THE LARGEST MARKET FOR CHIA IN THE WORLD. TO MEET THE FUTURE CONSUMER DEMAND, BREEDING EFFORTS ARE NECESSARY TOIMPROVE THE YIELD AND THE VARIOUS IMPORTANT AGRONOMIC CHARACTERISTICS OF THE CURRENTLY CULTIVATED CHIA VARIETIES.TRADITIONAL PLANT BREEDING IS BASED ON EVALUATION AND MEASUREMENT OF VISIBLE TRAITS. TO INTRODUCE A CERTAIN VALUABLE TRAIT (SUCH AS BIGGER SEED SIZE) INTO COMMERCIAL VARIETY, BREEDERS CROSS A VARIETY WITH BIG SEEDS WITH THE COMMERCIAL VARIETY. THEY MEASURE SEED SIZE IN A LARGE NUMBER OF F2 POPULATION FROM THIS CROSS AND SELECT A PLANT THAT HAS THE TRAITS OF THE COMMERCIAL VARIETY IN ADDITION TO BIGGER SEED SIZE. HOWEVER, THIS PROCESS IS VERY TIME CONSUMING, DIFFICULT, AND REQUIRES LOT OF RESOURCES. USING THIS METHOD, THE INTRODUCTION OF MORE THAN THREE TRAITS NEEDS MANY YEARS AND MAKES THE PROCESS IMPRACTICAL AS MOST TRAITS ARE COMPLEX AND REGULATED BY MULTIPLE GENES. WITH THE ADVANCEMENT OF SEQUENCING TECHNOLOGIES, PLANT BREEDERS NOW USE GENOMIC ASSISTED BREEDING (GAB). GENETIC MARKERS ARE SPECIFIC SEQUENCES OF DNA (SIMILAR TO BARCODES) THAT ARE ASSOCIATED WITH THE DIFFERENT AGRONOMIC TRAITS OF INTEREST (AGAIN LET'S USE THE EXAMPLE OF SEED SIZE). THESE MARKERS, DEPENDING ON THEIR PROXIMITY TO THE GENE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE TRAIT, ARE TRANSMITTED WITH THE GENE FROM ONE GENERATION TO ANOTHER. IN OTHER WORDS, THE PRESENCE OF THE GENETIC MARKER WILL BE HIGHLY ASSOCIATED WITH THE PRESENCE OF THE TRAIT. THUS, BY ANALYZING THESE MARKERS IN A NEWLY GERMINATED THREE-DAY-OLD SEEDLING (RATHER THAN VISIBLY SCORING A MATURE THREE-MONTH-OLD PLANT), BREEDERS KNOW WHETHER A GIVEN SEEDLING IN THE F2 POPULATION WILL EXPRESS THE DESIRED TRAIT. CONSEQUENTLY, GAB GREATLY SPEEDS UP THE PROCESS OF BREEDING AIMED AT INCORPORATING NEW AGRONOMICALLY IMPORTANT CHARACTERISTICS INTO COMMERCIAL PLANT VARIETIES. THROUGH THE AVAILABILITY OF WHOLE GENOME SEQUENCES AND GENETIC MARKERS FOR NUMBER OF AGRONOMICALLY IMPRTANT TRAITS, THE SCIENTIFIC COMMUNITY WAS ABLE TO MAKE CONSIDERABLE IMPROVEMENTS IN BOTH NUTRITIONAL AND AGRONOMIC PROPERTIES IN A NUMBER OF ECONOMICALLY IMPORTANT PLANT SPECIES SUCH AS CORN, WHEAT, RICE, SOYBEAN, AND TOMATO. BEING UNDERUTILIZED FOR CENTURIES, LIMITED GENOMIC RESOURCES ARE AVAILABLE FOR CHIA.IN THIS PROJECT, WE WILL GENERATE GENETIC RESOURCES FOR CHIA TO ENABLE THE USE OF GAB TOWARDS THE GENETIC IMPROVEMENT OF THIS NUTRITIOUS FOOD SOURCE. THESE FOUNDATIONAL GENOMIC RESOURCES WILL BE USED BY BOTH THE PUBLIC AND PRIVATE SECTOR TO DEVELOP NEW CHIA VARIETIES WITH BROADER ADAPTABILITY AS WELL AS HIGHER YIELD AND TOLERANCES SUITABLE FOR THE US ENVIRONMENT. THESE NEW VARIETIES ARE EXPECTED TO PROVIDE OPPORTUNITIES FOR FARMERS TO DIVERSIFY THEIR CHOICE OF CROP TO PLANT FOR PROFIT. UPON ENOUGH ADOPTION BY FARMERS, THESE VARIETIES COULD ALSO SATISFY THE US MARKET DEMAND FOR CHIA SEEDS AND PROVIDE FOOD SECURITY BY REDUCING OUR DEPENDENCY ON THE IMPORTED PRODUCTS.