Oat grain is a traditional human food that is rich in dietary fibre and contributes to improved human health1,2. Interest in the crop has surged in recent years owing to its use as the basis for plant-based milk analogues3. Oat is an allohexaploid with a large, repeat-rich genome that was shaped by subgenome exchanges over evolutionary timescales4. In contrast to many other cereal species, genomic research in oat is still at an early stage, and surveys of structural genome diversity and gene expression variability are scarce. Here we present annotated chromosome-scale sequence assemblies of 33 wild and domesticated oat lines, along with an atlas of gene expression across 6 tissues of different developmental stages in 23 of these lines. We construct an atlas of gene-expression diversity across subgenomes, accessions and tissues. Gene loss in the hexaploid is accompanied by compensatory upregulation of the remaining homeologues, but this process is constrained by subgenome divergence. Chromosomal rearrangements have substantially affected recent oat breeding. A large pericentric inversion associated with early flowering explains distorted segregation on chromosome 7D and a homeologous sequence exchange between chromosomes 2A and 2C in a semi-dwarf mutant has risen to prominence in Australian elite varieties. The oat pangenome will promote the adoption of genomic approaches to understanding the evolution and adaptation of domesticated oats and will accelerate their improvement.
FörderungenAustralian Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC) European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation programme MICIU/AEI, FEDER, UE Western Australia Oat Industry Partnership Junta de Andalucia Department of Primary Industry and Regional Development Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research (ScanOats) NSF German Research Foundation (DFG) McGill University German Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL, FUGE) Alexander von Humboldt foundation European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) Canadian Field Crops Research Alliance Prairie Oat Breeding Consortium Genome Quebec AAFC ScanOats Research Center (Lantmaennen) US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agricultural Research Service Severo Ochoa Program for Centres of Excellence in R&D from the Agencia Estatal de Investigacion of Spain
ERDF: 'A way of making Europe' MCIN/AEI ScanOats Research Center (Oatly AB) Swedish National Genomics Infrastructure - Science for Life Laboratory Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation Swedish Research Council BBSRC Beatriz Galindo Program Natural Resources Institute Finland (LUKE)