Managing the genetic diversity of Dioscorea yams for adaptation to climate change

Authors

Adhikari, B., Akakpo, R., Halpin-McCormick, A., Soto Gomez, M., Scarcelli, N., Alix, K., Vigouroux, y., Kantar, M. B.

Abstract

Understanding adaptation to environmental variation is fundamental to climate-resilient agriculture. Here, we analyzed a georeferenced collection of 167 Dioscorea accessions spanning a wide range of bioclimatic and biophysical variation, from dry sahelian environment to rainforest environment. Genome-wide association analyses revealed that the genetic architecture of environmental adaptation is largely driven by large-effect loci, although precipitation-related traits were associated with many small-effect loci. This mixed architecture could lead to multiple breeding strategies, including marker-assisted backcrossing and the targeted use of wild and semi-wild relatives. We identified a core collection of accessions that captures much of the genetic and environmental diversity, and highlighted accessions as potential parents for abiotic stress tolerance. Projections under future climate scenarios using genomic offset identified regions and accessions at elevated risk of maladaptation, as well as others with broad adaptive potentiality. Maximizing the use of available material may facilitate the development of climate-resilient cultivars.

Preprint server: bioRxiv
The authors list and abstract were imported from bioRxiv on 14 Sep 2026.

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