Hui Zhang ^1,3 , Juan Li ^1,2,3 , Qian Zhu ^1,2,3 , Xiaoling Zhang ⁴ , Chunli Wang ^1,3 , Dongsun Lee ^1,2,3 , Lijuan Chen ^1,2,3

1 Rice Research Institute, Yunnan Agricultural University, Kunming, 650201, Yunnan, China
2 The Key Laboratory for Crop Production and Smart Agriculture of Yunnan Province, Yunnan Agricultural University, Kunming, 650201, Yunnan, China
3 College of Agronomy and Biotechnology, Yunnan Agricultural University, Kunming, 650201, Yunnan, China
4 Kunming University, Kunming, 650201, Yunnan, China
Author    Correspondence author
Molecular Plant Breeding, 2025, Vol. 16, No. 1   doi: 10.5376/mpb.2025.16.0002
Received: 12 Dec., 2024    Accepted: 15 Jan., 2025    Published: 23 Jan., 2025

This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Zhang H., Li J., Zhu Q., Zhang X.L., Wang C.L., Lee D.S., and Chen L.J., 2025, Linkage drag and domestication syndrome: the genetic lessons from rice evolution, Molecular Plant Breeding, 16(1): 13-23 (doi: 10.5376/mpb.2025.16.0002)

The domestication of rice (Oryza sativa) from its wild relatives has been a pivotal event in agricultural history, leading to significant genetic changes known as domestication syndrome. This study synthesizes current knowledge on the genetic mechanisms underlying these changes, with a focus on linkage drag and its implications for rice breeding. The severe bottleneck during domestication resulted in a dramatic reduction in genetic diversity in cultivated rice compared to its wild progenitors, O. rufipogon and O. nivara. Multiple independent domestication events have been identified, contributing to the genetic differentiation between the indica and japonica subspeicies. The identification of quantitative trait loci (QTLs) and candidate genes associated with domestication-related traits has provided insights into the clustered distribution of these genes, which may explain the phenomenon of linkage drag. Furthermore, the study of de-domestication in weedy rice has revealed the complexity of genetic changes during the domestication process. This study highlights the importance of understanding the genetic basis of domestication syndrome and linkage drag to improve rice breeding strategies and harness the genetic potential of wild rice species for crop improvement.

Rice domestication; Linkage drag; Genetic diversity; Quantitative trait loci; De-domestication