Rice Genome Variations and Domestication Study

The cultivated rice (Oryza sativa), which is one of the most important crops, is considered to be domesticated from wild rice (Oryza rufipogon) thousands of years ago. Human ancestors made great efforts and took a long time to improve wild rice to better suit the needs of human, and finally created a new species containing inherent differences from its progenitor. The differences are reflected in a wide range of morphological and physiological traits. The current rice germplasm reserved in the world will be the most important resource for rice genetic improvement for humanity. It is imminent to profile the genetic diversity of both wild and cultivated rice species for breeding elite variety and preservation of rice germplasm.

To draw a comprehensive picture of rice genome variation, we collected wild rice and cultivated rice germplasm throughout the entire geographic range of O. sativa and O.rufipogon in the world. We sequenced and analyzed the genomes of the collected rice germplasm. The constructed map of rice genome variation thus enabled genome-wide association studies (GWAS) for many agronomic traits, investigation of the domestication processes and identification of domestication associated genes. The cultivated rice is revealed to be originated from south of China. This study provides an important resource for rice breeding and demonstrates an effective genomics approach for crop domestication research. The results and discussion will be presented.