Genetics, Vol. 177, 2535-2539, December 2007, Copyright © 2007
doi:10.1534/genetics.107.074765

The Role of Double-Stranded Break Repair in the Creation of Phenotypic Diversity at Cereal VRN1 Loci

National Institute of Agricultural Botany, Cambridge CB3 0LE, United Kingdom

1 Corresponding author: National Institute of Agricultural Botany, Huntingdon Rd., Cambridge CB3 0LE, United Kingdom.
E-mail: donal.osullivan{at}niab.com

Nonhomologous repair of double-stranded breaks, although fundamental to the maintenance of genomic integrity in all eukaryotes, has received little attention as to its evolutionary consequences in the generation and selection of phenotypic diversity. Here we document the role of illegitimate recombination in the creation of novel alleles in VRN1 orthologs selected to confer adaptation to annual cropping systems in barley and wheat.