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Wheat evolution

The story of wheat and its cousins

Nature Plants volume 9, pages 377–378 (2023)Cite this article

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Sequences of almost 800 wheat genomes have retraced the history of wheat: when and where it was domesticated, how cultivation spread from its Middle Eastern centre of origin and how the genome adapted to selective pressures in new agricultural habitats, not least thanks to its ability to take up genes from wild cousins.

Evolution shapes genetic diversity in plant and animal species by, among other things, separation of and gene flow between populations, dispersal to new habitats and response to new selective pressures. Genome sequences conserve footprints of these events, and in recent years, the analytical tools of population genetics have greatly improved at inferring demographic history from vast numbers of genetic sequences. The application of such methods to wheat promises a rich harvest. In this issue of Nature Plants, Zhao et al.1 set out to see if genome sequencing combined with population genetic analyses can tell us something new about wheat’s evolutionary history.

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Fig. 1: Progenitors and dispersal routes of bread wheat.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK) Gatersleben, Seeland, Germany

    Jia-Wu Feng & Martin Mascher

  2. German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany

    Martin Mascher

Authors
  1. Jia-Wu Feng
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  2. Martin Mascher
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Correspondence to Martin Mascher.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Feng, JW., Mascher, M. The story of wheat and its cousins. Nat. Plants 9, 377–378 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41477-023-01365-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41477-023-01365-5

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