From Mediterranean wild grass to resilient Atlantic crop: tracing the evolution pathway of black oat (Avena strigosa Schreb.).

Avena strigosa is genetically closest to, but clearly separated from, diploid Avena lusitanica, supporting a geographically localized domestication possibly in Galicia.

• Why it matters: Domestication history of black oat is unresolved due to taxonomic uncertainty among related wild oats, limiting conservation and breeding use of wild germplasm.
• What they did: The team genotyped 298 wild and cultivated Avena accessions with DArTseq, then used chromosome counts, population structure, phylogenetics, EigenGWAS, plus botanical and archaeobotanical evidence.
• The result: They resolved three lineages within the Avena barbata-hirtula-lusitanica complex and found crop domestication traits with reduced diversity, plus EigenGWAS loci in environmental-response genes, including CBF cold-acclimation components.

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