Ancestors of modern plant crops

Most Recent Common Ancestor (MRCA) of crops. The triticeae, maize, sorghum, rice, setaria and Brachypodium chromosomes are represented as concentric circles according to their genome size and synteny relationships (circle radius) to the Most Recent Common Ancestor (MRCA) at the center with seven protochromosomes (black bars A1-A7). The color code highlights the nomenclature of the modern chromosomes (Chr1-Chr12, see color legend bottom).