CENTER FOR PLANT SCIENCE AND SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE
I f you enjoy a nice pint of beer, a glass of whiskey, or a bowl of barley soup, thank ancient civilizations. Barley is one of the oldest domesticated grain crops, domesticated as early as 8000 BC, nearly 10,000 years ago. Barley was not only a staple food for ancient civilizations, but it was also used for alcohol, animal feed, currency, and even a unit of mea- surement. Because of its importance in daily life, barley achieved a wide global reach spreading from Central Asia to India, Persia, Egypt, Greece, and Italy by the 4th century before being brought to the Americas in the late 1400s. In the United States today, barley is predomi- nantly used for malting and animal feed, although humans still eat certain types of barley. However, in developing countries, barley is still an import- ant part of the human diet because of its high nutritional value and wide adaptability to various climates and environments. The earth’s rapidly grow- ing population and ever-changing climate threaten food security in many parts of the world. To meet the increased need for food while minimizing environmental damage, we need crops like barley to produce more output on existing land with fewer inputs like water and fertiliz- ers. Researchers like those at the HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology Center for Plant Science and Sustain- able Agriculture believe the answer might lie within the plants’ genomes.
UNRAVELING THE BARLEY GENOME Advances in genomic technology accelerate crop breeding and improve the yield and quality of crops, including rice and maize, but similar efforts in barley have been more challenging. There are many types of barley because it’s cultivated in so many geographic locations and climates. Each type has different biological traits, such as winter or spring type, feed or malt type, naked or covered seeds, two- or multi-row ear shapes, height, and seed color. Understanding the DNA variants that barley needs to produce useful traits, such as increased yield and climate adaptability, can help crop breeders create optimized barley varieties suitable for growth on marginal lands with little resource input and maximum seed output. The first barley reference genome was published in 2012 but only represents one barley variety. There is still work left to be done to unravel the barley genome at a deep enough level that breeders can confidently use the information to make breeding decisions. Researchers at the HudsonAlpha Genome Sequenc- ing Center were part of an international study that pres- ents a barley pan-genome, which represents the genomic diversity of many different varieties across the entire barley species 1 . The team surveyed approximately 22,000 barley seeds in a gene bank and chose 20 varieties for genome sequencing to represent global barley diversity.
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HudsonAlpha was part of an international study that presents a barley pan-genome, which represents the genomic diversity of many different varieties across the entire barley species.
RESEARCH REPORT
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