Abstract
Agro-ecosystems are dominated by crop plants and the weedy species that thrive under agricultural conditions. Weedy crop relatives are some of the most difficult weeds to manage and can dramatically reduce crop yields when left unchecked. Weedy rice has resulted from multiple de-domestication events from crop rice in different rice growing regions. Interestingly, both South Korea and the United States harbor weedy rice populations that share ancestry with indica cultivars and temperate japonica cultivars. Here we compare weedy rice populations from South Korea and the United States on order to identify if they are the result of the same de-domestication events. We find that weedy rice populations in South Korea are genetically distinct from weedy rice found in the USA and are therefore the result of two unique de-domestication events. Low levels of genetic diversity among Korean weedy rice accessions (haplotype diversity = 0.0188 and 0.0324) indicate recent de-domestication events from crop relatives.
Highlights
Agricultural weeds account for approximately one third of all crop yield loss (Oerke, 2006), contributing to food shortages worldwide
We find that weedy rice populations in South Korea are genetically distinct from weedy rice found in the USA and are the result of two unique de-domestication events
We find that Korean weedy rice is genetically distinct from US weedy rice populations despite their phenotypic similarities, indicating that these weeds were the result of unique dedomestication events
Summary
Agricultural weeds account for approximately one third of all crop yield loss (Oerke, 2006), contributing to food shortages worldwide. Understanding the population structure and mechanisms of adaption in weedy plants informs best management practices in agro-ecosystems. Weedy crop relatives have played a longstanding role in agro-ecosystem dynamics, driving both the evolution of crops as well as the development of new management strategies (Kwit et al, 2011; Li and Olsen, 2020). A well-documented example is weedy rice, a conspecific weed of cultivated rice (Oryza sativa L.). Weedy rice has a distribution that spans most rice growing regions around the world. Infestations of this species can cause up to an 80% loss in harvest for cultivated rice and is often cited as a major limiting factor for rice production. Management efforts for weedy rice have ranged from manual removal to large scale herbicide application
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