De novo domestication of polyploid rice: a novel breeding strategy and future prospects

World food security is still facing severe challenges owing to the increase of world population, the decrease of arable land and more frequent extreme weather events. One of the effective strategies to meet these challenges is to select wild polyploid rice with large biomass, strong resistance ability and high nutrition efficiency, so that new crops with super yield, high quality, multi-resistance and strong environmental adaptability can be bred through de novo domestication. In this review, we provide a systematical overview of the development of breeding techniques, the advantages of polyploid crops and the diversity of Oryza genus, and introduce a novel breeding strategy of de novo domestication from the aspects of germplasm selection, technological breakthrough and feasibility. We also provide the prospect for the new breeding strategy for future crops.