National Field Station of Freshwater Ecosystem of Liangzi Lake, College of Life Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430072, China.
Commun Biol. 2024 Oct 12;7(1):1313. doi: 10.1038/s42003-024-07036-1.
Global climate change poses challenges to agricultural production and food security. Assessing the adaptive capacity of crop wild relatives to future climate is important for protecting key germplasm resources and breeding new crops. We performed population genomics, genotype-environment association analyses, and genomic offset assessment of Chinese wild rice, Zizania latifolia, a crop wild relative and potential new grain crop, based on 168 individuals from 42 populations. We found two genetic lineages in Z. latifolia, corresponding to the south and north of its range, that diverged during the Late Pleistocene. We also identified lineage-specific positively selected genes associated with flower development and flowering, seed shattering, pathogen defense response and cold tolerance. We further found that populations from southeastern China are the most maladapted to future climate and should be prioritized for conservation. Our findings provide important clues for leveraging existing genetic diversity to identify important germplasm resources and create climate-resilient crops.
全球气候变化给农业生产和粮食安全带来挑战。评估作物野生近缘种对未来气候的适应能力对于保护关键种质资源和培育新作物非常重要。我们对中国野生稻，籼稻，一种作物野生近缘种和潜在的新粮食作物，进行了群体基因组学、基因型-环境关联分析和基因组偏移评估，基于来自 42 个种群的 168 个个体。我们发现，籼稻有两个遗传谱系，分别对应于其分布范围的南北，它们在更新世晚期发生了分歧。我们还鉴定出了与花发育和开花、种子破碎、病原体防御反应和耐寒性相关的谱系特异性正选择基因。我们进一步发现，来自中国东南部的种群对未来气候的适应能力最差，应该优先保护。我们的研究结果为利用现有遗传多样性来识别重要的种质资源和培育具有抗气候能力的作物提供了重要线索。
