Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • RESEARCH BRIEFINGS

Tracing the ancestry of barley in time and space

The genetic ancestry of domesticated barley has been mapped at high resolution, with each genome segment traced to its wild origins and the date estimated for when it entered the domesticated lineage. The findings reveal a mosaic of contributions from across western and central Asia, shaped by early cultivation and later gene flow.
Access through your institution
Buy or subscribe

This is a summary of: Guo, Y. et al. A haplotype-based evolutionary history of barley domestication. Nature https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-09533-7 (2025).

Access options

Access through your institution

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-025-03232-z

‘Expert opinion’ and the figure are published under a CC BY 4.0 licence.

References

  1. Zohary, D., Hopf, M. & Weiss, E. Domestication of Plants in the Old World: The Origin and Spread of Domesticated Plants in Southwest Asia, Europe, and the Mediterranean Basin 4th edn (Oxford Univ. Press, 2012).

    Google Scholar 

  2. Fuller, D. Q., Denham, T. & Allaby, R. Curr. Biol. 33, R636–R649 (2023).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Poets, A. M., Fang, Z., Clegg, M. T. & Morrell, P. L. Genome Biol. 16, 173 (2015).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Pankin, A., Altmüller, J., Becker, C. & von Korff, M. New Phytol. 218, 1247–1259 (2018).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Wang, Z. et al. Nature Commun. 13, 3891 (2022).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Subjects

Latest on:

Nature Careers

Jobs

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing

Search

Advanced search

Quick links