New Lit Alert: Signatures of local adaptation and maladaptation to future climate in wild Zizania latifolia

Signatures of local adaptation and maladaptation to future climate in wild Zizania latifolia

Yang Zou, Weidong Yang, Ruxue Zhang & Xinwei Xu 

Abstract

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.


Read the study

Zou, Y., Yang, W., Zhang, R., & Xu, X. (2024). Signatures of local adaptation and maladaptation to future climate in wild Zizania latifolia. Communications Biology7(1), 1-10.

If you’re an author on this paper or just found it really interesting, consider writing a post telling us more about it! Contact Kristin for more details and to become a contributor.

Featured photo: © Figure 5

Leave a Reply

Proudly powered by WordPress | Theme: Baskerville 2 by Anders Noren.

Up ↑

Skip to content