Crops feed the world's population and shape human civilization. The improvement of crop productivity has been ongoing for almost 10,000 years and has evolved from an experience-based to a knowledge-driven practice over the past three decades. Natural alleles and their reshuffling are long-standing genetic changes that affect how crops respond to various environmental conditions and agricultural practices. Decoding the genetic basis of natural variation is central to understanding crop evolution and, in turn, improving crop breeding. Here, we review current advances in the approaches used to map the causal alleles of natural variation, provide refined insights into the genetics and evolution of natural variation, and outline how this knowledge promises to drive the development of sustainable agriculture under the dome of emerging technologies. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Plant Biology, Volume 72 is May 2021. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.

中文翻译：

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作物的自然变异：实现理解，持续承诺

农作物养活了世界人口并塑造了人类文明。作物生产力的提高已经持续了近 10,000 年，并且在过去的 30 年中已经从基于经验的实践演变为知识驱动的实践。自然等位基因及其改组是长期存在的遗传变化，会影响作物对各种环境条件和农业实践的反应。解码自然变异的遗传基础是理解作物进化的核心，进而改善作物育种。在这里，我们回顾了用于绘制自然变异因果等位基因图的方法的当前进展，提供对自然变异的遗传学和进化的精细见解，并概述这些知识如何有望在新兴技术的支持下推动可持续农业的发展.