Phylogeny and biogeography of the genus oryza

Abstract

Plants with characteristics of species belonging to the tribe Oryzeae were present in India more than 60 million years ago (Ma), early in the history of grasses (Prasad et al. 2005). This tribe is now represented by 11 genera that are found in tropical and temperate regions of the world. Among genera in the tribe Oryzeae, the genus Oryza, with about 23 species, has been remarkably successful in evolutionary terms. Species of Oryza with the A and C genomes have a pan-tropical distribution. Rice has been domesticated from wild A genome wild Oryza several times and is the world’s most important staple food. Among cereals, rice has a small genome and is considered as a model for genome studies. The genus Oryza is of particular interest not only because it is the genus of rice but also because of what the genus can tell us about other grasses.