[Posted on August 21, 2025]
Quick Summary by GrainGenes: Jiang et al. (Jiang et al., Mol. Plant, 2025; corresponding authors: Ping Yang and Nils Stein) recently published a review paper on barley that summarizes decades of genetic research, highlights insights from genomic and pangenomic approaches and biotechnology tools, and discusses potential future research venues.
Title: Barley2035: A decadal vision for barley research and breeding
Abstract: Barley (Hordeum vulgare ssp. vulgare) is one of the oldest founder crops in human civilization and has been widely dispersed across the globe to support human society as a livestock feed and a raw material for the brewing industries. Since the early half of the 20th century, it has been used for innovative research on cytogenetics, biochemistry, and genetics, facilitated by its mode of reproduction through self-pollination and its true diploid status, which have contributed to the accumulation of numerous germplasm and mutant resources. In the era of molecular genomics and biology, a multitude of barley genes and their related regulatory mechanisms have been identified and functionally validated, providing a paradigm for equivalent studies in other Triticeae crops. This review highlights important advances on barley research over the past decade, focusing mainly on genomics and genomics-assisted germplasm exploration, genetic dissection of developmental and adaptation-related traits, and the complex dynamics of yield and quality formation. In the coming decade, the prospect of integrating these innovations in barley research and breeding shows great promise. Barley is proposed as a reference Triticeae crop for the discovery and functional validation of new genes and the dissection of their molecular mechanisms. The application of precise genome editing as well as genomic prediction and selection, further enhanced by artificial intelligence-based tools and applications, is expected to promote barley improvement to efficiently meet the evolving global demands for this important crop.
Link: https://www.cell.com/molecular-plant/fulltext/S1674-2052(24)00393-9