The scientists, led by Britain’s John Innes Center, the U.S. Department of Energy’s Joint Genome Institute, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Oregon State University, said the genome sequencing was of the wild grass Brachypodium distachyon.The researchers said three different groups of grasses, represented by corn, rice and wheat, provide most of the grains that support human nutrition and our domesticated animals. The genomes of two of the three groups have been sequenced. The scientists said Brachypodium distachyon is the first member of the third group, which contains key food and fodder crops such as wheat, barley and forage grasses, to be sequenced.
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