The mosaic oat genome gives insights into a uniquely healthy cereal crop

Abstract

Cultivated oat (Avena sativa L.) is an allohexaploid (AACCDD, 2n = 6x = 42) thought to have been domesticated more than 3,000 years ago while growing as a weed in wheat, emmer and barley fields in Anatolia1,2. Oat has a low carbon footprint, substantial health benefits and the potential to replace animal-based food products. However, the lack of a fully annotated reference genome has hampered efforts to deconvolute its complex evolutionary history and functional gene dynamics. Here we present a high-quality reference genome of A. sativa and close relatives of its diploid (Avena longiglumis, AA, 2n = 14) and tetraploid (Avena insularis, CCDD, 2n = 4x = 28) progenitors. We reveal the mosaic structure of the oat genome, trace large-scale genomic reorganizations in the polyploidization history of oat and illustrate a breeding barrier associated with the genome architecture of oat. We showcase detailed analyses of gene families implicated in human health and nutrition, which adds to the evidence supporting oat safety in gluten-free diets, and we perform mapping-by-sequencing of an agronomic trait related to water-use efficiency. This resource for the Avena genus will help to leverage knowledge from other cereal genomes, improve understanding of basic oat biology and accelerate genomics-assisted breeding and reanalysis of quantitative trait studies.

Identification and Functional Characterisation of Two Oat UDP-Glucosyltransferases Involved in Deoxynivalenol Detoxification

“…To find oat candidate glucosyltransferases (UGTs) involved in trichothecene detoxification, we searched the proteins present in the orthogroups reported by Kamal et al [ 48 ] using diamond v2.0.0 [ 49 ] with barley HvUGT13248 (UniProt ID: M0Y4P1.1) as the query. This resulted in finding orthogroup OG0000783 which included a total of 89 proteins, 6 of which were from barley and 13 from hexaploid oats.…”

“…Recently, two high-resolution whole oat genome sequences became available for researchers and breeders: OT3098 v2 [ 47 ] and cv. Sang [ 48 ]. This made it possible for us to identify oat candidate genes involved in the conjugation of trichothecenes.…”

“…To identify oat candidate UGTs, we searched the oat and barley proteins present in the orthogroups reported by Kamal et al [ 48 ]. Oat sequences, gene annotations and orthogroups are available at , (accessed on 29 May 2022), and the barley sequences were downloaded from , (accessed on 29 May 2022) separately using diamond v2.0.0 [ 47 ] parameters—max-target-seqs 1) with barley HvUGT13248 (UniProt ID: M0Y4P1.1) as the query.…”

“…To identify oat candidate UGTs, we searched the oat and barley proteins present in the orthogroups reported by Kamal et al [48]. Oat sequences, gene annotations and orthogroups are available at https://doi.ipk-gatersleben.de/DOI/43ec5a99-d7b6-4a28-b9 d8-4a6ec81a60fd/bc36ea85-b944-4bc3-a52f-f78596335ea5/2, (accessed on 29 May 2022), and the barley sequences were downloaded from https://doi.ipk-gatersleben.de/DOI/b2 f47dfb-47ff-4114-89ae-bad8dcc515a1/7eb2707b-d447-425c-be7a-fe3f1fae67cb/2, (accessed on 29 May 2022) separately using diamond v2.0.0 [47] parameters-max-target-seqs 1) with barley HvUGT13248 (UniProt ID: M0Y4P1.1) as the query.…”

“…Only recently did two newly assembled high resolution whole genome reference sequences of oat Avena sativa OT3098 v2 [ 47 ] and cv. Sang [ 48 ] become available, encouraging our work of finding and characterizing genes potentially important for the breeding of FHB-resistant cultivars. As resistance to trichothecenes is most likely an important component of FHB resistance, the aim of this study was to identify candidate oat UGTs and to test their ability to detoxify trichothecenes produced by Fusarium species on oat.…”