Data from: Genetic control of seed shattering during African rice domestication

Domestication represents a unique opportunity to study the evolutionary
process. The elimination of seed dispersal traits was a key step in the
evolution of cereal crops under domestication. Here, we show that ObSH3, a
YABBY transcription factor, is required for the development of the seed
abscission layer. Moreover, selecting a genomic segment deletion
containing SH3 resulted in the loss of seed dispersal in populations of
African cultivated rice (Oryza glaberrima Steud.). Functional
characterization of SH3 and SH4 (another gene controlling seed shattering
on chromosome 4) revealed that multiple genes can lead to a spectrum of
non-shattering phenotypes, affecting other traits such as ease of
threshing that may be important to tune across different agroecologies and
postharvest practices. The molecular evolution analyses of SH3 and SH4 in
a panel of 93 landraces provided unprecedented geographical detail of the
domestication history of African rice, tracing multiple dispersals from a
core heartland and introgression from local wild rice. The cloning of
ObSH3 not only provides new insights into a critical crop domestication
process but also adds to the body of knowledge on the molecular mechanism
of seed dispersal.