Domestication, breeding, omics research, and important genes of Zizania latifolia and Zizania palustris

Abstract

Wild rice (Zizania spp.), an aquatic grass belonging to the subfamily Gramineae, has a high economic value. Zizania provides food (such as grains and vegetables), a habitat for wild animals, and paper-making pulps, possesses certain medicinal values, and helps control water eutrophication. Zizania is an ideal resource for expanding and enriching a rice breeding gene bank to naturally preserve valuable characteristics lost during domestication. With the Z. latifolia and Z. palustris genomes completely sequenced, fundamental achievements have been made toward understanding the origin and domestication, as well as the genetic basis of important agronomic traits of this genus, substantially accelerating the domestication of this wild plant. The present review summarizes the research results on the edible history, economic value, domestication, breeding, omics research, and important genes of Z. latifolia and Z. palustris over the past decades. These findings broaden the collective understanding of Zizania domestication and breeding, furthering human domestication, improvement, and long-term sustainability of wild plant cultivation.

Keywords: breeding objectives; domestication process; economic value; edible history; important genes; omics research; wild rice (Zizania spp.).

Figure 1

Application value of Zizania latifolia (A) and Zizania palustris (B). A1–A5 represent the inflorescences of Z. latifolia at different stages after flowering.

Figure 2

Jiaobai (normal and gray Jiaobai) formed from the infection of Zizania latifolia with Ustilago esculenta. In the images, U. esculenta is a haploid strain, the mycelia-teliospore (M-T) has a long haploid phase with multifocal budding, while the teliospore (T) has a short haploid phase with normal budding and generally does not exhibit multifocal budding.