An Investigation of Genetic Differentiation in Early Domestication of Oryza Sativa Based on InDel Molecular Marker Method

Summary

The origin of Oryza sativa and its genetic differentiation during domestication is a long-lasting problem attracting wide attention of agronomists, archaeologists and geneticists etc. An array of hypotheses have been raised to interpret how wild rice evolved into today’s domestic varieties. However, most studies of rice genetic diversity based on modern samples represent a biased sampling of germplasm from a restricted time period in rice evolution, so that important germplasm for understanding rice evolution has been largely lost. To make up this ignored field of the issue, investigation of archaeological materials is needed. Tianluoshan, a 7,000-year-old site in the lower Yangzi, provided well-preserved water-logged rice remains, allowing a direct study of ancient rice. We employed an accurate and efficient technology of identification of japonica and indica rice, InDel molecular marking method, to analyze the rice husks uncovered from Tianluoshan. The result shows the rice at Tianluoshan site could be a neutral type, not japonica- or indica-prone. This further implies that japonica-indica differentiation of Oryza sativa could not appear 7,000 years ago in the lower Yangzi although rice was being domesticated by human there.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)   •
• Advances in Archaeology of Prehistoric and Early China

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 15510