Jianhui Li^1,2 , Jie Zhang^1,2 , Renxiang Cai^1,2

1 Institute of Life Science, Jiyang College of Zhejiang A&F University, Zhuji, 311800, China;
2 Cuixi Academy of Biotechnology, Zhuji, 311800, China
Author    Correspondence author
International Journal of Molecular Evolution and Biodiversity, 2020, Vol. 10, No. 3   
Received: 27 Apr., 2020    Accepted: 28 Apr., 2020    Published: 28 Apr., 2020

This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Wheat is a cereal crop belonging to Triticum genus of the family of Gramineae with the Latin scitific name as Triticum aestivum L., which is divided into diploid wheat, tetraploid wheat and hexaploid wheat. As early as 10 000 BC, wheat was domesticated in the Fertile Crescent, and its westward spread to Europe was well discussed and argued, while its eastward spread to China was controversial. Archaeological evidence indicates that there may be two routes for wheat to be introduced into China from west Asia, one is the famous "silk road", the other is the "Eurasian steppe passage". Up to now, there are about 20 species of Triticum. Among them, bread wheat (T. aestivum, AABBDD), also known as common wheat, is the most widely cultivated wheat variety, and also is a typical allohexaploid. Researchers are very enthusiastic about the origin of its genome A, B and D. Among them, genome A derived from T. urartu (AA) and genome D derived from Aegilops tauschii have been successfully identified, while the study on the origin of genome B has always been controversial. Recent studies by North Dakota State University showed that Ae. speltoides was involved in the origin of wheat B genome, but should not be considered as the only donor of this genome. The origin of wheat B genome might have a polyphyletic origin, involving multiple ancestors, including Ae. speltoides. This review provides some insights on the origin, evolution and spread of wheat based on the latest evidences of Archaeology and genomics.

Wheat; Common wheat; Genome; Archaeological evidence; Origin and Spread