By sequencing and assembling the genomes of close relatives of cereals, scientists were able to trace their evolutionary history and establish the time frames for the emergence of key characteristics.
The study found that the appearance of cytosolic starch synthesis in the endosperm is linked to an ancient whole-genome duplication. Furthermore, it was discovered that an additional lignin synthesis pathway arose due to an earlier duplication of a specific gene.
The results of this work were presented in the scientific journal Science.