Fwd: Evolution of the Grain Dispersal System in Barley

[Ragavendran Abbai]

Sincerely,

Ragavendran Abbai

IV B.Tech Biotechnology

Genomics and Proteomics Laboratory

Centre for Plant Molecular Biology and Biotechnology

Tamil Nadu Agricultural University

Coimbatore-641 003

raga...@gmail.com 

rago...@gmail.com

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Senthil Natesan <senthil...@tnau.ac.in>
Date: Sat, Aug 1, 2015 at 5:53 PM
Subject: Evolution of the Grain Dispersal System in Barley
To: RAGAVENDRAN <raga...@gmail.com>

Share +1 Forward Evolution of the grain dispersal system in barley An International team lead by Japanese scientist along with Indian scientists resulted in the key discovery which is published in prestigious journal "CELL” Authors: Mohammad Pourkheirandish, Goetz Hensel, Benjamin Kilian, Natesan Senthil, Guoxiong Chen, Mohammad Sameri, Perumal Azhaguvel, Shun Sakuma, Sidram Dhanagond, Rajiv Sharma, Martin Mascher, Axel Himmelbach, Sven Gottwald, Sudha K. Nair, Akemi Tagiri, Fumiko Yukuhiro, Yoshiaki Nagamura, Hiroyuki Kanamori, Takashi Matsumoto, George Willcox, Christopher P. Middleton, Thomas Wicker, Alexander Walther, Robbie Waugh, Geoffrey B. Fincher, Nils Stein, Jochen Kumlehn, Kazuhiro Sato and Takao Komatsuda   Journal title: Cell DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2015.07.002 URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2015.07.002 Barley was the earliest domesticated crop in the World and the history of barley cultivation is much older than wheat.  However, two key, unanswered questions have been asked for a long time, namely how did the grain dispersal mechanism of wild barley evolve and how often, and where was the dispersal mechanism lost during the process of domestication.   Takao Komatsuda of the National Institute of Agrobiological Sciences, Tsukuba, Japan and Kazuhiro Sato of Institute of Plant Science and Resources, Okayama University, Kurashiki, Japan led a group of international collaborators which include Prof. Natesan Senthil, Professor of Biotechnology, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University in the discovery of two genes, Btr1 and Btr2,that are involved in grain dispersal in wild barley at maturity. This genes facilitates seed dispersal, which is essential for the survival of the species, but at the same time it makes harvesting of large amounts of grain virtually impossible.   The rachis lost its brittle characteristic through isolated natural mutation events. These mutations resulted in a stronger, non-brittle rachis through which the grain remained attached to the head after maturity.  Ancient farmers recognized that they could now harvest all the grains at the same time and selected the individual, naturally mutated barley plants for cultivation.  This was therefore a centrally important step in the domestication of this early cereal crop species. Professors Komatsuda and Sato along with Indian Professor N.Senthil have elucidated, for the first time, the genetic basis that led to one of the earliest human cropping activities and eventually to modern agriculture. The results of this research will be published in the prestigious journal "CELL" on July 30th, 2015   Major discovery   In this research two great mysteries about the evolution of wild barley and its transition to modern cultivated barleys were unlocked. Thus, a natural mutation in one gene (Btr1) resulted in the establishment of cultivated barley in Israel about 10 thousand years ago, while an independent mutation in the other gene (Btr2) occurred later in Syria. The descendants of the two mutant, cultivated barleys differ in their nature, and represent a major source of the extremely high genetic diversity that exists in barley today. Introducing as yet unused wild barley traits with new properties into our breeding programs offers opportunities to greatly accelerate and improve the efficiency of breeding.     Expected products   Barley that we are using today has been derived from one of the descendants of the first cultivated barleys that originated through either of the two mutations in wild barleys. The modern day descendants carry a large amount of genetic material and associated traits from their ancient ancestors in which the mutations first occurred. For example, traits such as disease resistance, quality in the production of beer, nutrient value of livestock feed will vary greatly depending on breeding lineages. Therefore, it is likely that the efficiency of breeding programs can be accelerated by exploiting un used genes and taking advantage of the latest genomic information.     Research background story   The history of barley cultivation is much older than that of wheat. Archaeological specimens of grains excavated from ruins around the world have been tested to see if they are wild species or cultivated plants. Methods for estimating the age when cultivated lines were born from wild plants is based on the ages of the ruins, which are generally measured using various radioisotope technologies. Grains of wild barley fall away from the axis (rachis) and leave smooth disarticulation surfaces, but grains of cultivated barley have rough disarticulation layers because they are torn off the axis by human mediated artificially threshing.   Wild barley is presently distributed in the Middle East. In prehistoric ruins of the so-called "Fertile Crescent", such as Israel and Syria, carbonized grains of barley have been found in pottery containers and in mud and soil. About 17, 000 years ago humans collected wild barley for eating. About 10, 000 years ago, they discovered wild barley plants on which grains were retained on the spike, and this point marked the beginning of barley cultivation.   That grains of wild barley are scattered at maturation is a biologically important property for the spread and survival of the species. However, from the human’s point of view, grains that fall to the ground represent an extreme loss of harvest potential and yield. Our ancient human ancestors found a wild barley population that did not shed its grains at maturity. Planting those seeds, they could then harvest many grains at a time. The discovery and sowing of these spontaneously mutated barley plants was probably the beginning of ancient human agriculture.   Reference :  Journal title: Cell DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2015.07.002 Journal URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2015.07.002   Article title: Evolution of the grain dispersal system in barley   Authors: Mohammad Pourkheirandish1,9, Goetz Hensel 2, Benjamin Kilian 2,10, Natesan Senthil1,11, Guoxiong Chen1,12, Mohammad Sameri1,13, Perumal Azhaguvel1,14, Shun Sakuma1,15, Sidram Dhanagond2, Rajiv Sharma2,16, Martin Mascher2, Axel Himmelbach2, Sven Gottwald2,17, Sudha K. Nair1,18, Akemi Tagiri1, Fumiko Yukuhiro1, Yoshiaki Nagamura1, Hiroyuki Kanamori1, Takashi Matsumoto1, George Willcox3,19, Christopher P. Middleton4, Thomas Wicker4, Alexander Walther5, Robbie Waugh6, Geoffrey B. Fincher7, Nils Stein2, Jochen Kumlehn2, Kazuhiro Sato8 and Takao Komatsuda1*   *Corresponding author: Takao Komatsuda    Affiliations: National Institute of Agrobiological Sciences, 305-8602 Tsukuba, Japan Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK), Gatersleben, 06466 StadtSeeland, Germany Archéorient CNRS UMR 5133, Université de Lyon II, Jalés, Berrias, France Institute of Plant Biology, University of Zürich, CH-8008 Zürich, Switzerland Department of Earth Sciences, University of Gothenburg, 405 30 Gothenburg, Sweden University of Dundee, The James Hutton Institute, Invergowrie, Dundee DD2 5DA, United Kingdom ARC Centre of Excellence in Plant Cell Walls, School of Agriculture, Food and Wine, University of Adelaide, Waite Campus Glen Osmond, SA 5066, Australia Institute of Plant Science and Resources, Okayama University, 710-0046 Kurashiki, Japan  Present address: The University of Sydney, Plant Breeding Institute, Cobbitty, NSW 2570, Australia Present address: Bayer CropScience NV, BCS Breeding & Trait Development, 9052 Gent, Belgium Present address: Centre for Plant Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore-641003, India Present address: Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China Present address: Department of Plant Biology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, 750 07 Uppsala, Sweden Present address: Syngenta Seeds, Slater, IA 50244, USA Present address: Kihara Institute for Biological Research, Yokohama City University, Yokohama 244-0813, Japan Present address: University of Dundee, The James Hutton Institute, Invergowrie, Dundee DD2 5DA, UK 17Present address: Department of Plant Breeding, Justus Liebig University, 35392 Giessen, Germany Present address: International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), ICRISAT Campus, Patancheru, Greater Hyderabad 502324, India Present address: Directeur de Recherche Eme´ rite, Arche´ orient CNRS, Jale` s 07460, France

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