Olive trees (Olea europaea) provide a good model to study the origin of cultivars due to their long lifespan. Diez et al. use SSR markers to evaluate genetic identity and diversity as well as phylogenetic relationships among the oldest wild and cultivated olives of Southern Spain. The majority (90.4 %) of the a priori cultivated ancient olive genotypes [...]
The origins of rice have been cast in a new light by research published in PLoS Genetics. By reconciling two theories, the authors show that the domestication of rice occurred at least twice independently but with extensive “borrowing” between two subspecies, Oryza sativa indica and Oryza sativa japonica, the southern and northern varieties of rice [...]
I remember being taught about the origins of cultivated maize on my MPhil. It was a mess. Over at the Agricultural Biodiversity Weblog, there’s news about why the results were so messy. It turns out cultivated maize is sharing genes with some other forms of maize.
Comparative genomics of domestication in Asian Vigna Rice bean (Vigna umbellata) was domesticated in Southeast Asia and is a scientifically neglected crop with under-exploited potential. Isemura et al. compare its domestication QTLs with those of azuki bean (V. angularis) of East Asian origin. The inheritance of domestication-related traits is found to be so simple that [...]
I’m just writing a quick post here to point to another blog post at Vaviblog by Jeremy Cherfas on the recent paper Did backcrossing contribute to the origin of hybrid edible bananas?. Banana domestication revisited is well worth your time because the post connects de Langhe’s banana research to other domestication. In particular he connects [...]
The origin of hybrid edible bananas Bananas and plantains (Musa spp.) provide a staple food for many millions of people living in the humid tropics. The genomic constitution of the diploids has been classified as AB, and that of the triploids as AAB or ABB; however, the morphology of many accessions is biased towards either [...]
Domestication without a genetic bottleneck in Stenocereus (Cactaceae) The Tehuacán Valley in Mexico provides an excellent setting for studying domestication as artificial selection is currently practised on nearly 120 native plant species with coexisting wild, silvicultural and cultivated populations. Parra et al. study the cactus Stenocereus puinosus and find that despite selection for larger and sweeter [...]
Over the years, hundreds of papers have been published describing the genetic changes that occur during evolution of plants, and the differences evident between individual species. An equally high number of papers has been published about the definition of species, their separation and naming. Many have joined discussions of where and why new species form [...]