Peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.): A Prospective Legume Crop to Offer Multiple Health Benefits Under Changing Climate Nudrat Aisha Akram , Fahad Shafiq , and Muhammad Ashraf Abstract: Peanut is a multipurpose oil-seed legume, which offer benefits in many ways. Apart from the peanut plant’s beneficial effects on soil quality, peanut seeds are nutritious and medicinally and economically important. In this review, insights into peanut origin and its domestication are provided. Peanut is rich in bioactive components, including phenolics, flavonoids, polyphenols, and resveratrol. In addition, the involvement of peanut in biological nitrogen fixation is highly significant. Recent reports regarding peanut responses and N 2 fixation ability in response to abiotic stresses, including drought, salinity, heat stress, and iron deficiency on calcareous soils, have been incorporated. As a biotechnological note, recent advances in the development of transgenic peanut plants are also highlighted. In this context, regulation of transcriptional factors and gene transfer for the development of stress-tolerant peanut genotypes are of prime importance. Above all, this review signifies the importance of peanut cultivation and human consumption in view of the scenario of changing world climate in order to maintain food security. Keywords: abiotic stress, bioactive compounds, climate change, legumes, peanut History of Peanut Origin and Domestication Peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.), or ground nut, is an annual legume grown in tropical and subtropical agro-climatic areas of Asia, Africa, and the Americas (FAO, 2010). Peanut is believed to have originated in South America in the area of Bolivia and Argentina where its domestication started (Bertioli et al., 2011; FAO, 2011; Stalker & Simpson, 1995). A second line of evidence suggested the Incas of Peru as the highly developed ancient agricultural civi- lization that cultivated it throughout the coastal areas. The Spanish explorers of the New World took peanuts to Spain from where they were distributed by traders to different parts of the world including Asia and Africa (Hammons, Herman, & Stalker, 2016). At present, China, India, the USA, and Argentina are the most notable peanut exporters. Peanut has become one of the major global oil-seed crops cultivated on approximately 26 million ha in about 120 countries yielding about 35 to 40 million tons of peanut pods annually (FAO, 2010; Patel, Mandaliya, Mishra, Dobaria, & Thankappan, 2016; Sarkar et al., 2016). According to FAO, world production is above 45 million tons, averaging about 1.8 t/ha. Peanut production in India is very significant with approximately seven million tons of annual production (Mishra et al., 2015). A major fraction of peanut cultivation is confined to underuti- lized crop niches of low-income and food-deficit countries and to CRF3-2018-0079 Submitted 4/10/2018, Accepted 6/22/2018. Authors Akram and Shafiq are with Dept. of Botany, Government College Univ. Faisalabad, Pakistan. Author Ashraf is with Pakistan Science Foundation, Islamabad, Pakistan. Direct inquiries to author Akram (E-mail: nudrataauaf@yahoo.com). resource-poor farmers (FAO, 2009). Peanut is also cultivated as a cover crop, forage, green manure, intercrop, and for hay (Langat, Okiror, Ouma, & Gesimba, 2006). Its cultivation improves soil fertility through atmospheric nitrogen fixation (Lal, 2008). There are numerous peanut varieties that are usually preferred on the basis of high fat content, high yield, and low-shelling and high- blanch abilities (Deshpande, Chinnan, & Phillips, 2008; Mulando & Resurreccion, 2006). Peanut: A Legume to Tackle Food Security Issues Changing climatic conditions have reduced plant productivity and generated food security issues. In the context of food security and alleviation of hunger, peanut exhibits promising components which make it an exceptional food to meet nutritional needs. Peanut seeds are rich source of multiple vitamins, carbohydrates, proteins, essential fatty acids, minerals, and bioactive compounds of diverse medical importance. These compounds are considered here in some detail. Nutritional components of peanut and its derived products Peanut seeds contain carbohydrates (105% to 20%), protein (16% to 36%), and oil (36% to 54%) as major constituents (Davis et al., 2016). They also contain many important functional components including coenzyme Q 10 (Pravst, ˇ Zmitek, & ˇ Zmitek, 2010), argi- nine, and polysterols, which make it a functional food (Akhtar, Khalid, Ahmed, Shahzad, & Suleria, 2014; Francisco & Resur- recion, 2008). Beneficial minerals such as calcium, iron, magne- sium, phosphorus, manganese, sodium, potassium, zinc, copper, and selenium are also present in peanuts (Ayoola, Adeyeye, & C  2018 Institute of Food Technologists ® doi: 10.1111/1541-4337.12383 Vol. 17, 2018  Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety 1325