An international team led by Germany’s Leibniz Institute has mapped the complete oat pangenome, compiling genetic data from 30 varieties to unlock traits for nutrition, sustainability, and climate resilience. Featuring ETH Zurich’s study of the historic Swiss ‘Hative des Alpes’ oat, the research offers new opportunities to breed disease-resistant, nutrient-rich, and eco-friendly oat varieties for modern agriculture.
The post Researchers Map the Complete Oat Genome to Boost Future Breeding appeared first on Seed World.
Oats are enjoying a remarkable resurgence, becoming a staple in modern diets — from breakfast cereals to oat-based milk alternatives. Their popularity is well-deserved: oats are a rich source of plant-based protein, high in fiber that helps regulate blood sugar and lower cholesterol and packed with essential nutrients such as B vitamins. Oat milk, in particular, has become a favored dairy substitute, even available in “barista” blends that froth just like traditional milk.
To better understand and utilize the many benefits of this versatile crop, an international team of scientists has compiled the genetic information of 30 oat varieties into a single, comprehensive database. The study, recently published in Nature, presents a detailed pangenome — a genetic “atlas” encompassing all known oat genes.
The project was led by the Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research in Gatersleben, Germany, which previously developed a similar atlas for barley. Among the collaborators was Professor Bruno Studer and his research group at ETH Zurich, who analyzed the genome of the historic Swiss variety ‘Hative des Alpes’.
‘Hative des Alpes’ was once widely cultivated in Switzerland between 1910 and 1930 but gradually disappeared from production after World War II. Seeds stored at the Vavilov Institute in Saint Petersburg were returned to Agroscope, Switzerland’s agricultural research center, in 2012. Following successful seed propagation, Studer’s team used these plants for genetic analysis, according to a press release.
Under standardized growing conditions, the researchers extracted DNA and RNA from the plants, sequencing all genes and determining which were active in various tissues — including roots, leaves, and flowers.
The resulting oat pangenome contains both core genes, shared across all varieties, and unique genes found only in specific types. This new resource provides a powerful foundation for future breeding efforts, helping scientists compare varieties, identify desirable traits, and develop improved oats for nutrition, sustainability, and climate resilience.
“These specific genes may be of interest for cultivation,” explains Studer. For example, the ‘Hative des Alpes’ variety has genes that give the plants a resistance to certain diseases or make them particularly well suited to cultivation in the Alpine region. “If we know which genes these are and what they do, we can use crossbreeding to introduce them into another variety in a targeted manner,” explains the ETH professor. “Pangenomes are therefore useful not only for basic research but also for breeding new varieties.”
Studer actually specialises in fodder grasses — in other words, in cattle feed. Why, then, is he suddenly working with oats? “Oats also belong to the grass family, albeit one that’s of interest for human nutrition. That, combined with the allure of an old, forgotten variety, drove me to participate in the project. You could say I’ve joined the oat revolution in my way,” he says with a grin.
Oats Diversify Agriculture
Although oats are becoming an increasingly important foodstuff, they still play a minor role in today’s agriculture because they are less productive than wheat. Accordingly, it is not really an option to switch to oats in key wheat-growing areas. “However, oats could once again play a greater role in the diversification of farms in the cool and rather rainy conditions of the Alpine foothills,” says Studer. Unlike wheat, oats thrive in that environment. Today, these areas are home to typical grassland that is predominantly used for milk and meat production. Oats are also resistant to certain fungi that can damage wheat.
Studer believes there is considerable potential to apply the pangenome concept to other less-cultivated plant species. “Particularly in orphan crops, modern plant breeding methods of this kind can be used to achieve huge genetic gain within a short time and to implement such crops into commercial farming in Switzerland. This boosts not only agricultural biodiversity but also the variety of food on our plates.”
The post Researchers Map the Complete Oat Genome to Boost Future Breeding appeared first on Seed World.