Worldwide phylogeography and history of wheat genetic diversity

Sci Adv. 2019 May 29;5(5):eaav0536. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.aav0536. eCollection 2019 May.

Abstract

Since its domestication in the Fertile Crescent ~8000 to 10,000 years ago, wheat has undergone a complex history of spread, adaptation, and selection. To get better insights into the wheat phylogeography and genetic diversity, we describe allele distribution through time using a set of 4506 landraces and cultivars originating from 105 different countries genotyped with a high-density single-nucleotide polymorphism array. Although the genetic structure of landraces is collinear to ancient human migration roads, we observe a reshuffling through time, related to breeding programs, with the appearance of new alleles enriched with structural variations that may be the signature of introgressions from wild relatives after 1960.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Biological Evolution
  • Genetic Variation*
  • Genetics, Population
  • Genome, Plant
  • Haplotypes
  • Phylogeography
  • Plant Breeding
  • Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide
  • Triticum / genetics*