Molecular evidence for adaptive evolution of drought tolerance in wild cereals

• DOI: 10.1111/nph.18560
• Publication Date: 2022-10-21T05:36:32Z
• Authors: Yuanyuan Wang; Guang Chen; Fanrong Zeng; Zhigang Han; Cheng‐Wei Qiu; Meng Zeng; Zujun Yang; Fei Xu; Dezhi Wu; Fenglin Deng; Shengchun Xu; Caspar Chater; Abraham Korol; Sergey Shabala; Feibo Wu; Peter Franks; Eviatar Nevo; Zhong‐Hua Chen
• Keywords: Drought Tolerance; Drought Resistance; Adaptive Evolution

Summary The considerable drought tolerance of wild cereal crop progenitors has diminished during domestication in the pursuit higher productivity. Regaining this trait crops is essential for global food security but requires novel genetic insight. Here, we assessed molecular evidence natural variation barley ( Hordeum spontaneum ), emmer wheat Triticum dicoccoides and Brachypodium species collected from dry moist habitats at Evolution Canyon, Israel (ECI). We report that prevailing vs conditions have differentially shaped stomatal photosynthetic traits these cereals their respective habitats. present genomic transcriptomic accounting differences, including co‐expression gene modules, correlated with physiological traits, selective sweeps, driven by xeric site on African Slope (AS) ECI. Co‐expression module ‘circadian rhythm’ was linked to significant drought‐induced delay flowering time stacei genotypes. Slope‐specific expressed genes are important tolerance, verified silencing Disease‐Related Nonspecific Lipid Transfer 1 DRN1 Nonphotochemical Quenching 4 NPQ4 Brassinosteroid‐Responsive Ring‐H1 BRH1 ). Our results provide new information breeding resilient a changing climate increasingly frequent events.