ON THE COVER: To date there have been several domestication-related genes and corresponding functional nucleotide polymorphisms (FNPs) identified in rice. In this issue, Konishi et al. (pp. 1283–1293) propose a model of japonica rice domestication process based on the distribution of six FNPs in five domestication-related genes in various japonica rice cultivars, suggesting origins of japonica rice during domestication. The 'heritage' landraces with all the original FNPs that escaped selection, possibly by ancient humans, were often found to have originated from southeastern Asia. The cover photo shows a map of Asia with seed and grain phenotype photos of rice local landraces exhibiting some similarities with the FNP genotypes. The way in which selected FNPs in rice landrace genomes are accumulated revealed a stream of genetic changes in rice distribution in southeastern Asia and allowed us to extract the domestication process of japonica rice.
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