Genetic shift in local rice populations during rice breeding programs in the northern limit of rice cultivation in the world.

The rapid accumulation of pre-existing mutations may play major roles in the establishment and shaping of adaptability for local regions in current rice breeding programs. The cultivated rice, Oryza sativa L., which originated from tropical regions, is now grown worldwide due to the concerted efforts of breeding programs. However, the process of establishing local populations and their origins remain unclear. In the present study, we characterized DNA polymorphisms in the rice variety KITAAKE from Hokkaido, one of the northern limits of rice cultivation in the world. Indel polymorphisms were attributed to transposable element-like insertions, tandem duplications, and non-TE deletions as the original mutation events in the NIPPONBARE and KITAAKE genomes. The allele frequencies of the KITAAKE alleles markedly shifted to the current variety types among the local population from Hokkaido in the last two decades. The KITAAKE alleles widely distributed throughout wild rice and cultivated rice over the world. These have accumulated in the local population from Hokkaido via Japanese landraces as the ancestral population of Hokkaido. These results strongly suggested that combinations of pre-existing mutations played a role in the establishment of adaptability. This approach using the re-sequencing of local varieties in unique environmental conditions will be useful as a genetic resource in plant breeding programs in local regions.