Sowing the seeds of multi-genome rice

[...]polyploidy has served as a common mode of evolution in flowering plants1. The work opens the door to developing plants that not only can better withstand environmental stresses (a crucial characteristic for global food security in the face of changing climates), but also could carry other characteristics - enhanced nutrition and taste, for example - that might help rice to meet evolving consumer preferences in the future. Successful extension to a broader gene pool will be necessary if researchers and breeders are to generate a diverse repository of domesticated polyploids, which could then be used to generate further improved strains through conventional crosses or genome editing - strains adapted to particular production systems, for instance, or those with high market acceptability.