Skip to content
DraconiticResearch
Search Sources API
210,089 studies31 sourcesUpdated 18 min ago
Peer-reviewedCC BY 4.0Communications Biology

Investigation of naked oat (Avena sativa ssp. nuda) domestication provides insights into yield and nutritional gaps in oats

  • Xiaolong Dong1,2
  • Kaiquan Yu2
  • Zilin Zhao2
  • Wubishet A. Bekele3
  • Qinkun Li2
  • Laichun Guo4
  • Xiaotian Liang2,4
  • Xinyi Zhang2
  • Chunlong Wang4
  • Yongjie Zhang2
  • Xingjia Zhang2
  • Yuzhen Zhang2
3 more authors
  • Ruizhen Yang1,2
  • Changzhong Ren4
  • Yuanying Peng1,2
4 affiliations
  1. 1State Key Laboratory of Crop Gene Exploration and Utilization in Southwest China, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, China
  2. 2Triticeae Research Institute, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, China
  3. 3Ottawa Research and Development Centre, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Ottawa, ON Canada
  4. 4National Oat Improvement Center, Baicheng Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Baicheng, China
Read full textPDFDOICite

Abstract

Oats are valuable for global food and forage security due to their excellent nutrition and polyploidy. Cultivated oats (Avena sativa L.) are categorized into hulled and naked types based on lemma morphology, and naked oats possess superior processing and nutritional quality. Here, we decipher the genetic architecture of 666 globally collected oat accessions via population structure, genetic diversity and gene flow analyses, revealing genetic admixture and lineage differentiation driven by geographic isolation and divergent selection. Population evolutionary analyses indicate that Chinese naked oat landraces diverge from the Central and Eastern Eurasian hulled oats 6124 generations ago and undergo secondary domestication in North China under strong artificial selection. Multi-environment phenotyping of 19 traits from 2010 to 2021 reveals that hulled oats outperform in grain size and yield, while naked oats have higher crude protein (+25.5%) and crude fat (+16.9%). Genome-wide scans identify 883 directional selection genes related to nutrient metabolism, whereas balancing selection on carbon metabolism genes restricts yield potential. Furthermore, integrated GWAS identify three favorable haplotypes associated with favorable agronomic and quality traits, providing key genetic resources for oat molecular breeding.

Related

  1. Near-gapless genome of Sassafras tzumu provides insights into magnoliid evolution and cellulose synthase expansion associated with wood formation
    Xianyin Ding, Zhuchou Lu, Yue Zhang +2
    Horticulture researchPeer-reviewedCC BYFull textPlant biologyEurope PMCPMC
  2. An Early Jurassic soft eggshell provides insights into the evolutionary history of dinosaur eggs
    Zhiyong Di, Haiquan Wang, Tao Wang +6
    Nature CommunicationsPeer-reviewedCC BY-NC-ND 4.0Full textEvolutionary biologyCrossref
  3. A Draft Genome Assembly of Argania spinosa Provides Insights into Lipid Metabolism-Associated Genes and Repeat-Rich Genome Architecture
    My Abdelmajid Kassem, Naoufal Lakhssassi, Dounya Knizia +2
    Plants (Basel, Switzerland)Peer-reviewedCC BYFull textPlant biologyEurope PMC
  4. Core MCC of Arabidopsis thaliana: structural dissection provides new insights into Mad2, BubR1 and CDC20
    E. Gamosa, E. V. N. Gotardo, P. G. Custodio +3
    bioRxivPreprintAll rights reservedFull textPlant biologybioRxiv
  5. Analysis of structural modifications and metagenomic sequencing during the ensiling of Caragana korshinskii provides insights into how extrusion pretreatment promotes lignocellulose degradation
    Baochao Bai, Gentu Ge, Rui Qiu +7
    Communications BiologyPeer-reviewedCC BY 4.0General biologyNatureCrossref

Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@article{dong2026investigation,
  title = {{Investigation of naked oat (Avena sativa ssp. nuda) domestication provides insights into yield and nutritional gaps in oats}},
  author = {Xiaolong Dong and Kaiquan Yu and Zilin Zhao and Wubishet A. Bekele and Qinkun Li and Laichun Guo and Xiaotian Liang and Xinyi Zhang and Chunlong Wang and Yongjie Zhang and Xingjia Zhang and Yuzhen Zhang and Ruizhen Yang and Changzhong Ren and Yuanying Peng},
  journal = {Communications Biology},
  year = {2026},
  month = jul,
  doi = {10.1038/s42003-026-10626-w},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-026-10626-w},
  note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY  - JOUR
TI  - Investigation of naked oat (Avena sativa ssp. nuda) domestication provides insights into yield and nutritional gaps in oats
AU  - Xiaolong Dong
AU  - Kaiquan Yu
AU  - Zilin Zhao
AU  - Wubishet A. Bekele
AU  - Qinkun Li
AU  - Laichun Guo
AU  - Xiaotian Liang
AU  - Xinyi Zhang
AU  - Chunlong Wang
AU  - Yongjie Zhang
AU  - Xingjia Zhang
AU  - Yuzhen Zhang
AU  - Ruizhen Yang
AU  - Changzhong Ren
AU  - Yuanying Peng
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/07/11
JO  - Communications Biology
DO  - 10.1038/s42003-026-10626-w
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-026-10626-w
AB  - Oats are valuable for global food and forage security due to their excellent nutrition and polyploidy. Cultivated oats (Avena sativa L.) are categorized into hulled and naked types based on lemma morphology, and naked oats possess superior processing and nutritional quality. Here, we decipher the genetic architecture of 666 globally collected oat accessions via population structure, genetic diversity and gene flow analyses, revealing genetic admixture and lineage differentiation driven by geographic isolation and divergent selection. Population evolutionary analyses indicate that Chinese naked oat landraces diverge from the Central and Eastern Eurasian hulled oats 6124 generations ago and undergo secondary domestication in North China under strong artificial selection. Multi-environment phenotyping of 19 traits from 2010 to 2021 reveals that hulled oats outperform in grain size and yield, while naked oats have higher crude protein (+25.5%) and crude fat (+16.9%). Genome-wide scans identify 883 directional selection genes related to nutrient metabolism, whereas balancing selection on carbon metabolism genes restricts yield potential. Furthermore, integrated GWAS identify three favorable haplotypes associated with favorable agronomic and quality traits, providing key genetic resources for oat molecular breeding.
SN  - 2399-3642
ER  -