据英国每日邮报报道，日前，最新一项研究表明，甚至在1万年前的早期人类就掌握了“基因改良”水稻的种植技术。
该研究显示远古人类可选择不同的水稻株，然后将它们的基因混合在一起，形成理想产量的农作物，这将形成较高的产量和易种植性。据悉，这项发现是科学家发现野生水稻基因中含有两个截然不同的亚属分支，受变异基因SD1的影响，水稻株的长度被缩短。
日本神户大学Masanori Yamasaki教授称，这是近50年里现代水稻培育中最为重要的基因改良，然而我们竟发现1万年前的早期人类就早已掌握。目前，该项研究报告发表在《美国国家科学院学报》上。
随着SD1基因的逐步进化改良，水稻将形成更短、更结实的茎干，并生产更多的谷粒。研究人员发现现代培育水稻中混合了一个亚属分支，这在野生水稻中并不存在。此外，相比之下培育亚属分支水稻比野生水稻的SD1基因中，前者的遗传多样性较低。这表明在早期水稻培育中，SD1基因已经过了人工选择淘汰。
推荐原文出处：
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences DOI：10.1073/pnas.1019490108
Artificial selection for a green revolution gene during japonica rice domestication
Kenji Asano, Masanori Yamasaki, Shohei Takuno, Kotaro Miura, Satoshi Katagiri, Tomoko Ito, Kazuyuki Doi, Jianzhong Wu, Kaworu Ebana, Takashi Matsumoto, Hideki Innan, Hidemi Kitano, Motoyuki Ashikari, and Makoto Matsuoka
The semidwarf phenotype has been extensively selected during modern crop breeding as an agronomically important trait. Introduction of the semidwarf gene, semi-dwarf1 (sd1), which encodes a gibberellin biosynthesis enzyme, made significant contributions to the “green revolution” in rice (Oryza sativa L.). Here we report that SD1 was involved not only in modern breeding including the green revolution, but also in early steps of rice domestication. We identified two SNPs in O. sativa subspecies (ssp.) japonica SD1 as functional nucleotide polymorphisms (FNPs) responsible for shorter culm length and low gibberellin biosynthetic activity. Genetic diversity analysis among O. sativa ssp. japonica and indica, along with their wild ancestor O. rufipogon Griff, revealed that these FNPs clearly differentiate the japonica landrace and O. rufipogon. We also found a dramatic reduction in nucleotide diversity around SD1 only in the japonica landrace, not in the indica landrace or O. rufipogon. These findings indicate that SD1 has been subjected to artificial selection in rice evolution and that the FNPs participated in japonica domestication, suggesting that ancient humans already used the green revolution gene. |
