Communications Biology· 2026Q1
Tracing the origin of non-brittle rachis TtBTR1 alleles in wheat
- 2citations
- Q1SCImago
- 2026year
Short summary
Three non-brittle rachis TtBTR1 alleles in wheat emerged independently in distinct wild emmer subpopulations, with two alleles predating agriculture and one arising from an introgression event.
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Key points
- Three known TtBTR1 loss-of-function alleles controlling non-brittle rachises in wheat emerged in distinct wild emmer subpopulations.
- TtBTR1-A alleles resulted from an introgression from southern judaicum wild emmer into northern wild emmer wheat.
- TtBTR1-Aa and TtBTR1-B alleles were already present in wild emmer wheat prior to the advent of agriculture.
- A chromosome-scale assembly of dika wheat carrying the Ttbtr1-Ab allele was generated for analysis.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Abstract
Abstract The evolution of non-brittle rachises, controlled by the TtBTR1 genes, was a key step during wheat domestication. Here, using k -mer-based approaches applied to a large diversity panel, we refine previous estimates of the geographical and temporal origins of the three known Ttbtr1 loss-of-function alleles and show that they emerged in distinct wild emmer subpopulations. For this, we generated a chromosome-scale dika wheat assembly carrying the recently discovered Ttbtr1-Ab allele. Our analyses reveal that the Ttbtr1-A alleles reside on an introgression from the southern judaicum wild emmer population into northern wild emmer wheat, providing an explanation for the long-standing debate about the Ttbtr1-A origin. We further demonstrate that the Ttbtr1-Aa and Ttbtr1-B alleles are already present in wild emmer wheat, with evidence indicating that they arose prior to the advent of agriculture. Together, these findings support a model in which key domestication genes in domesticated crops were selected and combined from standing genetic variation in wild relatives.
The authors' abstract, as published at the source. Communications Biology, 2026 · DOI ↗
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Field: Plant Science
Plant ScienceAgricultural and Biological Sciences