Western Crop Genetics Alliance, Agricultural Sciences, College of Science, Health, Engineering and Education, Murdoch University, 90 South Street, Murdoch, WA, 6150, Australia.
Agriculture and Food, Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development, 3 Baron-Hay Ct, South Perth, WA, 6151, Australia.
Plant J. 2021 Apr;106(2):419-434. doi: 10.1111/tpj.15173. Epub 2021 Mar 9.
The future of plant cultivar improvement lies in the evaluation of genetic resources from currently available germplasm. Today's gene pool of crop genetic diversity has been shaped during domestication and more recently by breeding. Recent efforts in plant breeding have been aimed at developing new and improved varieties from poorly adapted crops to suit local environments. However, the impact of these breeding efforts is poorly understood. Here, we assess the contributions of both historical and recent breeding efforts to local adaptation and crop improvement in a global barley panel by analysing the distribution of genetic variants with respect to geographic region or historical breeding category. By tracing the impact that breeding had on the genetic diversity of Hordeum vulgare (barley) released in Australia, where the history of barley production is relatively young, we identify 69 candidate regions within 922 genes that were under selection pressure. We also show that modern Australian barley varieties exhibit 12% higher genetic diversity than historical cultivars. Finally, field-trialling and phenotyping for agriculturally relevant traits across a diverse range of Australian environments suggests that genomic regions under strong breeding selection and their candidate genes are closely associated with key agronomic traits. In conclusion, our combined data set and germplasm collection provide a rich source of genetic diversity that can be applied to understanding and improving environmental adaptation and enhanced yields.
植物品种改良的未来在于对现有种质资源的遗传资源进行评估。当今作物遗传多样性的基因库是在驯化过程中形成的，最近则是通过育种形成的。最近的植物育种工作旨在从适应能力差的作物中开发新的和改良的品种，以适应当地环境。然而，这些育种工作的影响还不太清楚。在这里，我们通过分析与地理区域或历史育种类别有关的遗传变异的分布，评估了历史和近期育种工作对全球大麦群体的本地适应和作物改良的贡献。通过追踪育种对在澳大利亚释放的大麦（Hordeum vulgare）遗传多样性的影响，我们在 922 个基因中的 69 个候选区域中发现了受到选择压力的影响。我们还表明，现代澳大利亚大麦品种比历史品种的遗传多样性高 12%。最后，在各种澳大利亚环境下对农业相关性状进行田间试验和表型分析表明，受到强烈育种选择的基因组区域及其候选基因与关键农艺性状密切相关。总之，我们的综合数据集和种质资源提供了丰富的遗传多样性来源，可用于理解和改善环境适应性和提高产量。
