Something old, something new: Evolution of Colombian weedy rice (Oryza spp.) through de novo de‐domestication, exotic gene flow, and hybridization

Abstract

Weedy rice (Oryza spp.) is a worldwide weed of domesticated rice (O. sativa), considered particularly problematic due to its strong competition with the crop, which leads to reduction of yields and harvest quality. Several studies have established multiple independent origins for weedy rice populations in the U.S. and various parts of Asia; however, the origins of weedy rice in South America have not been examined in a global context. We evaluated the genetic variation of weedy rice populations in Colombia, as well as the contributions of local wild Oryza species, local cultivated varieties, and exotic Oryza groups to the weed, using polymorphism generated by genotyping by sequencing (GBS). We found no evidence for genomic contributions from local wild Oryza species (O. glumaepatula, O. grandiglumis, O. latifolia and O. alta) to Colombian weedy rice. Instead, Colombian weedy rice has evolved from local indica cultivars, and has also likely been inadvertently imported as an exotic pest from the US. Additionally, weeds comprising de novo admixture between these distinct weedy populations now represent a large proportion of genomic backgrounds in Colombian weedy rice. Our results underscore the impressive ability of weedy rice to evolve through multiple evolutionary pathways, including in situ de‐domestication, range expansion, and hybridization.