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A pangenome of oat, assembled from 33 wild and domesticated oat lines, sheds light on the evolution and genetic diversity of this cereal crop and will aid genomics-assisted breeding to improve productivity and sustainability.

Convergent selection between crops can help to identify genetic variants with important roles in adaptation as a source of diversity for the improvement of cultivated species through the concept of inter-crop translational research for breeding.

A study describes the assembly and analysis of a haplotype-resolved pangenome of bulbous barley with the potential to improve domesticated barley and illustrates its use in evolutionary research and trait mapping.

Assembly of the hexaploid oat genome and its diploid and tetraploid relatives clarifies the evolutionary history of oat and allows mapping of genes for agronomic traits.

A long- and short-read barley pan-transcriptome assembled from 20 diverse barley genotypes offers insights into genotype- and tissue-dependent gene expression and function.

Mingsheng Chen, Klaus Mayer, Steve Rounsley, Rod Wing and colleagues report the genome sequence of African rice (Oryza glaberrima), a different species than Asian rice. The authors resequenced 20 O. glaberrima accessions and 94 Oryza barthii accessions (the putative progenitor species of O. glaberrima), and their analyses support the hypothesis that O. glaberrima was domesticated in a single region along the upper Niger river.

Chromosome-scale sequence assemblies of 20 diverse varieties of barley are used to construct a first-generation pan-genome, revealing previously hidden genetic variation that can be used by studies aimed at crop improvement

Comparison of multiple genome assemblies from wheat reveals extensive diversity that results from the complex breeding history of wheat and provides a basis for further potential improvements to this important food crop.

Available wheat genomes are annotated by projecting Chinese Spring gene models across the new assemblies. Here, the authors generate de novo gene annotations for the 9 wheat genomes, identify core and dispensable transcriptome, and reveal conservation and divergence of gene expression balance across homoeologous subgenomes.

A pangenome analysis of 76 wild and domesticated barley accessions in combination with short-read sequence data of 1,315 barley genotypes indicates that allelic diversity at structurally complex loci may have helped crop plants to adapt to agricultural ecosystems.

By assembling the genome of Cardamine hirsuta and conducting comparative genomic and transcriptomic analyses, a study reveals the prevalent role of transcription factors and gene duplication in morphological evolution.

Comparative and evolutionary genomics analyses for more than 1,600 re-sequenced maize lines identified vast amounts of differentially and complementary selected regions and genes among female and male heterotic groups used in modern hybrid maize breeding.

DNA transposons are numerous in plant genomes. Here, Wicker et al. analyse transposon polymorphisms in rice and other grasses and show that sequences flanking excision sites contain up to 10 times more mutations than average, suggesting transposons are a major factor shaping the evolution of grass genomes.

De novo genome assemblies of four European flint maize lines and comparison with two US Corn Belt genomes provide insights into the dynamics of intraspecies variation in repeat and gene content in maize genomes.

The genome of the wild grass Brachypodium distachyon (Brachypodium), a member of the Pooideae subfamily, is sequenced. The Pooideae are one of three subfamilies of grasses that provide the bulk of human nutrition and may become major sources of renewable energy. Availability of the genome sequence should help establish Brachypodium as a model for developing new energy and food crops.

The International Barley Genome Sequencing Consortium reports sequencing and assembly of a reference genome for barley, Hordeum vulgare.

Sorghum is an African grass that is grown for food, animal feed and fuel. The current paper presents an initial analysis of the ∼730 megabase genome of Sorghum bicolor. Genome analysis and its comparison with maize and rice shed light on grass genome evolution and also provide insights into the evolution of C₄ photosynthesis, as well as protein coding genes and miRNAs that might contribute to sorghum's drought tolerance.

Exome sequencing of a worldwide panel of 487 wheat genotypes, including landraces, cultivars and modern varieties, sheds light on wheat genomic diversity and the evolution of modern bread wheat.

Detlef Weigel and colleagues report the genome sequence of Arabidopsis lyrata. In comparison with the much smaller genome of A. thaliana, from which A. lyrata diverged about 10 million years ago, they find that the reduction in genome size is attributed to a large number of deletions across the genome.

Brinton, Uauy and colleagues utilize genomic data from the 10+ Wheat Genome Project to develop a useful tool for studying and generating new wheat cultivars. This framework uses advanced exploitation of wheat haplotypes to bring newfound precision and efficiency to wheat breeding.