Structural variations in oil crops: Types, and roles on domestication and breeding

Abstract

Structural variations (SVs), a newly discovered genetic variation, have gained increasing recognition for their importance, yet much about them remains unknown. With the completion of whole-genome sequencing projects in oil crops, more SVs have been identified, revealing their types, genomic distribution, and characteristics. These findings have demonstrated the crucial roles of SVs in regulating gene expression, driving trait innovation, facilitating domestication, making this an opportune time for a systematic review. We summarized the progress of SV-related studies in oil crops, focusing on the types of SVs and their mechanisms of occurrence, the strategies and methods for SV detection, and the SVs identified in oil crops such as rapeseed, soybean, peanut, and sesame. The various types of SVs, such as presence-absence variations (PAVs), copy number variations (CNVs), and homeologous exchanges (HEs), have been shown. Along with their genomic characterization, their roles in crop domestication and breeding, and regulatory impact on gene expression and agronomic traits have also been demonstrated. This review will provide an overview of the SV research process in oil crops, enabling researchers to quickly understand key information and apply this knowledge in future studies and crop breeding.