An international consortium of scientists has published a high resolution draft of the barley genome. The research, published this month in the journal Nature, will help to produce new and better barley varieties that are vital for the beer and whisky industries, the team’s UK contingent said.

The UK team conducting research was led by Professor Robbie Waugh of Scotland's James Hutton Institute and the Genome Analysis Centre, Norwich. Waugh said the research is of vital importance as barley is the UK’s second most important crop; the cereal is essential to the malting, brewing and pub industries, which are worth some £20 billion to the UK economy.

He said the breakthrough is “a critical step towards [creating] barley varieties able to cope with the demands of climate change.” It should also help in the fight against cereal crop diseases that cause millions of pounds of losses annually.

Barley is the world's fourth most important cereal crop both in terms of area of cultivation and in quantity of grain produced. In addition to whisky and beer, barley is also a major component of the animal feed for the meat and dairy industries. Barley straw is a source of nutrition for ruminants and is used for animal bedding and frost protection in the winter.

The barley genome is almost twice the size of that of humans and determining the sequence of its DNA has presented a major challenge for scientists. This is largely because its genome contains a large proportion of closely related sequences that are difficult to piece together into a true linear order.

Nevertheless, the International Barley Genome Sequencing Consortium (IBSC) managed to circumvent the complications and construct a high resolution draft DNA sequence, which they said amounts to a workable model of the genome. Having conducted their work, the scientists are now able to better understand the functioning of the barley plant, including a better understanding of its immune system.

Professor Waugh commented, "Access to the assembled catalogue of gene sequences will streamline efforts to improve barley production through breeding for varieties better able to withstand pests and disease and deal with adverse environmental conditions such as drought and heat stress.

"It will accelerate research in barley, and its close relative, wheat. Armed with this information breeders and scientists will be much better placed to deal with the challenge of effectively addressing the food security agenda under the constraints of a rapidly changing environment."

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