articleNatureJun 17, 2024HYBRID OA

Harnessing landrace diversity empowers wheat breeding

Agricultural Genomics Institute at Shenzhen · Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences · +32 more institutions

PubMed
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Abstract

Abstract Harnessing genetic diversity in major staple crops through the development of new breeding capabilities is essential to ensure food security 1 . Here we examined the genetic and phenotypic diversity of the A. E. Watkins landrace collection 2 of bread wheat ( Triticum aestivum ), a major global cereal, by whole-genome re-sequencing of 827 Watkins landraces and 208 modern cultivars and in-depth field evaluation spanning a decade. We found that modern cultivars are derived from two of the seven ancestral groups of wheat and maintain very long-range haplotype integrity. The remaining five groups represent untapped genetic sources, providing access to landrace-specific alleles and haplotypes for breeding.…

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