Genome Sequence-Based Features of Wheat Genetic Diversity

Common wheat is a hexaploid species crop that is widely recognized as an important staple food crop. The establishment of a gold standard reference genome sequences of the well-studied CHINESE SPRING, and its progenitors (including Triticum turgidum ssp. dicoccoides accession Zavitan, Triticum durum accession Svevo, Triticum urartu, Aegilops tauschii), in the last 5 years has dramatically promoted our understanding of wheat genome diversity and evolution through the resequencing of collections of wheat and its progenitors. In this chapter, we review progress in the analysis and interpretation of genome‑based studies of wheat focusing on geographic genome differentiation, interspecies gene flow, haplotype blocks, and gene diversity in breeding. We also consider approaches for efficiently discovering and integrating the genes and genome variations, hidden in Genebank collections, into wheat breeding programs.