Genetic Diversity and Population Structure in a Legacy Collection of Spring Barley Landraces Adapted to a Wide Range of Climates

Abstract

Global environmental change and increasing human population emphasize the urgent need for higher yielding and better adapted crop plants. One strategy to achieve this aim is to exploit the wealth of so called landraces of crop species, representing diverse traditional domesticated populations of locally adapted genotypes. In this study, we investigated a comprehensive set of 1485 spring barley landraces (Lrc1485) adapted to a wide range of climates, which were selected from one of the largest genebanks worldwide. The landraces originated from 5° to 62.5° N and 16° to 71° E. The whole collection was genotyped using 42 SSR markers to assess the genetic diversity and population structure. With an average allelic richness of 5.74 and 372 alleles, Lrc1485 harbours considerably more genetic diversity than the most polymorphic current GWAS panel for barley. Ten major clusters defined most of the population structure based on geographical origin, row type of the ear and caryopsis type – and were assigned to specific climate zones. The legacy core reference set Lrc648 established in this study will provide a long-lasting resource and a very valuable tool for the scientific community. Lrc648 is best suited for multi-environmental field testing to identify candidate genes underlying quantitative traits but also for allele mining approaches.

Exome sequencing of geographically diverse barley landraces and wild relatives gives insights into environmental adaptation

“…In the choice of landrace accessions, we covered a large geographical area and gave some priority to regions where proximate wild materials would allow a comparison of wild and landrace accessions growing in related environments. For both wild and landrace material we considered known population structure and distribution ranges 27,41,42 and critically required trusted geo-reference collection site data associated with each accession. We omitted early cultivar selections originating from North-Central and North-Western Europe (as used previously 36,43 ) due to a lack of accurate collection site information that we considered a requirement for our current purposes.…”

Sustainable intensification – “oxymoron” or “third-way”? A systematic review

“…Genotype richness, on the other hand, is the number of distinct crop genotypes or varieties simultaneously planted in a given cropping system." (Smith et al, 2015: 18) Agrobiodiversity, including crop and genetic diversities, is considered by some as fundamental to the sustainability of agricultural systems (Hoisington et al, 1999;Veteto, 2008) due to its value for crop improvement (Grando and McGee, 1990;Pasam et al, 2014). Concerns about the loss of agrobiodiversity during the twentieth century are widespread.…”

Low Genetic Differentiation and Evidence of Gene Flow among Barley Landrace Populations in Tunisia

“…This has increased the risk of crop failures under extreme bioclimatic conditions or pest attack (Lamara et al, 2013;Yahiaoui et al, 2014). The exploitation of crop landraces, which represent diverse traditional domesticated populations and localized adaptations, presents one strategy to accomplish this goal (Pasam et al, 2014). The development of higher-yielding and betteradapted crops is needed to meet global environmental change and increasing human population size.…”

“…The development of higher-yielding and betteradapted crops is needed to meet global environmental change and increasing human population size. The exploitation of crop landraces, which represent diverse traditional domesticated populations and localized adaptations, presents one strategy to accomplish this goal (Pasam et al, 2014). Compared with modern varieties, landraces (the oldest cultivated accessions) and wild accessions still present considerably higher genetic diversity for barley (Matus and Hayes, 2002;Fischbeck, 2003), which makes them a valuable genetic resource for future crop improvement strategies (Hagenblad et al, 2012).…”