Rice Domestication Revealed by Reduced Shattering of Archaeological rice from the Lower Yangtze valley.

ABSTRACT: Plant remains dating to between 9000 and 8400 BP from a probable ditch structure at the Huxi site include the oldest rice (Oryza sativa) spikelet bases and associated plant remains recovered in China. The remains document an early stage of rice domestication and the ecological setting in which early cultivation was taking place. The rice spikelet bases from Huxi include wild (shattering), intermediate, and domesticated (non-shattering) forms. The relative frequency of intermediate and non-shattering spikelet bases indicates that selection for, at the very least, non-shattering rice was underway at Huxi. The rice also has characteristics of japonica rice (Oryza sativa subsp. japonica), helping to clarify the emergence of a significant lineage of the crop. Seeds, phytoliths and their context

SUBMITTER: Zheng Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4914946 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature