A conserved flowering-time module underlies double-season cropping.

A conserved barley flowering-time module, PhyC-VRN1, defined by a single amino-acid change in PHYTOCHROME C plus a winter-type VERNALIZATION 1 haplotype, accelerates heading and maturity.

• Why it matters: Double-season cropping in central and eastern China depends on early flowering and maturation to escape presummer terminal heat stress and support flexible rotation with summer crops.
• What they did: Genomic footprints from 505 Chinese barley cultivars spanning 80 years of breeding identified PhyC-VRN1, and base editing in barley and wheat confirmed causality for the accelerated flowering-time combination.
• The result: The derived PHYTOCHROME C allele rose sharply in modern autumn-sown varieties, and the module is functionally conserved across Triticeae, enabling reconstruction of adaptive modules for climate-resilient crop design.

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