%0 Journal Article %A Sonja Kersten %A Jiyang Chang %A Christian D. Huber %A Yoav Voichek %A Christa Lanz %A Timo Hagmaier %A Patricia Lang %A Ulrich Lutz %A Insa Hirschberg %A Jens Lerchl %A Aimone Porri %A Yves Van de Peer %A Karl Schmid %A Detlef Weigel %A Fernando A. Rabanal %T Standing genetic variation fuels rapid evolution of herbicide resistance in blackgrass %D 2021 %R 10.1101/2021.12.14.472587 %J bioRxiv %P 2021.12.14.472587 %X Repeated herbicide applications exert enormous selection on blackgrass (Alopecurus myosuroides), a major weed in cereal crops of the temperate climate zone including Europe. This inadvertent large-scale experiment gives us the opportunity to look into the underlying genetic mechanisms and evolutionary processes of rapid adaptation, which can occur both through mutations in the direct targets of herbicides and through changes in other, often metabolic, pathways, known as non-target-site resistance. How much either type of adaptation relies on de novo mutations versus pre-existing standing variation is important for developing strategies to manage herbicide resistance. We generated a chromosome-level reference genome for A. myosuroides for population genomic studies of herbicide resistance and genome-wide diversity across Europe in this species. Bulked-segregant analysis evidenced that non-target-site resistance has a complex genetic architecture. Through empirical data and simulations, we showed that, despite its simple genetics, target-site resistance mainly results from standing genetic variation, with only a minor role for de novo mutations.Competing Interest StatementJ.L. and A.P. are employees of BASF, which manufactures and sells herbicides. D.W. holds equity in Computomics, which advises breeders. All other authors declare no competing or financial interests. %U https://www.biorxiv.org/content/biorxiv/early/2021/12/16/2021.12.14.472587.full.pdf