Genetic diversity, Resilience and Adaptation in Native Oryza

Objective

Crop wild relatives represent untapped reservoirs of novel genetic diversity for the generation of more productive and climate-resilient crop varieties, provided that such wild resources are discovered, understood and preserved for the future. While the wild relatives of rice from Asia have been used for decades as source of diversity to improve cultivated rice (Oryza sativa spp.), the primary staple for over four billion people today, the wild Oryza species from the Americas are largely unknown and unexploited. To fill this gap, GRAiN Oryza aims to unlock the diversity of the wild Oryza species from the Americas. I will leverage a unique resource I generated before, consisting of whole-genome sequences of living and herbarium specimens of four native wild rice species from the Americas: the diploid O. glumipatula, and the tetraploid O. alta, O. grandiglumis and O. latifolia. I will use this asset to investigate how the genetic diversity of these wild relatives of rice has changed across space and time, retrace their evolutionary histories, test whether domestication has ever occurred in the Americas, identify potential adaptive variation for climate resilience, and inform conservation needs. The project results will strengthen the EU scientific positioning on rice research and fuel further research on the evolution and adaptation of crops and wild plants. Moreover, while supporting biodiversity-based solutions for environmentally sustainable agriculture, GRAiN Oryza outcomes will inform conservation efforts on native wild Oryza diversity. The MSCA PF will give me the opportunity to return to the EU research scenario and build a competitive and versatile scientific profile to become a future leader at the crossroads of diversity, evolution and ecology of food crops and their wild relatives.