Chinese scientists make important oat discovery

Chinese scientists have inferred the origin of hexaploid oat from whole-genome sequencing, chloroplast genomes and transcriptome assemblies of different Avena species.

The research, jointly conducted by a scientific team including scientists from Baicheng Academy of Agricultural Sciences in Jilin province and Sichuan Agricultural University in Sichuan province, was recently published in the international journal Nature Genetics.

Using Oxford Nanopore ultralong sequencing and Hi-C technologies, scientists have generated a reference-quality genome assembly of hull-less common oat, comprising 21 pseudomolecules, and also produced genome assemblies for diploid and tetraploid Avena ancestors, which enabled the identification of oat subgenomes and provided insights into oat chromosomal evolution.

"Oat is an important cereal crop serving as a valuable source of forage and human food," said Ren Changzhong, director of Baicheng Academy of Agricultural Sciences and also head of the team. "These findings and the high-quality reference genomes will facilitate the full use of crop genetic resources to accelerate oat improvement and molecular design breeding of cultivated oat."

"It will also play an important role in improving the competitiveness of the oat industry and guaranteeing food security," he added.