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2024
Journal article
Human influence on the distribution of cacao: insights from remote sensing and biogeography.
Cacao ( , Malvaceae) is an important tree crop in Africa and in the Americas. Current genomic evidence suggests that its original range in Tropical Americas was smaller than its current distribution and that human-mediated dispersal occurred before European colonization. This includes regions like Mesoamerica and Eastern Amazonia where cacao... -
2024
Journal article
Adaptation and the Geographic Spread of Crop Species.
Crops are plant species that were domesticated starting about 11,000 years ago from several centers of origin, most prominently the Fertile Crescent, East Asia, and Mesoamerica. From their domestication centers, these crops spread across the globe and had to adapt to differing environments as a result of this dispersal. We...Gutaker, Rafal M. ; Purugganan, Michael D.
Local adaptation, Crop evolution, Crop dispersal, Seasonal adaptation, Latitudinal adaptation, and Domestication
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2023
Journal article
Domestication of the Amazonian fruit tree cupuaçu may have stretched over the past 8000 years.
Amazonia, one of the largest and most biodiverse ecosystems on Earth, is a significant yet less-known arena for ancient plant domestication. Here, we traced the origins of ( ), an Amazonian tree crop closely related to cacao ( ), cherished for its flavorful seed-pulp, by employing an extensive genomic analysis... -
2019
Journal article
The climatic challenge: Which plants will people use in the next century?
More than 31,000 useful plant species have been documented to fulfil needs and services for humans or the animals and environment we depend on. Despite this diversity, humans currently satisfy most requirements with surprisingly few plant species; for example, just three crops – rice, wheat and maize – comprise more... -
2023
Journal article
Maintenance and expansion of genetic and trait variation following domestication in a clonal crop.
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2023
Journal article
The causal mutation leading to sweetness in modern white lupin cultivars.
Lupins are high-protein crops that are rapidly gaining interest as hardy alternatives to soybean; however, they accumulate antinutritional alkaloids of the quinolizidine type (QAs). Lupin domestication was enabled by the discovery of genetic loci conferring low QA levels (sweetness), but the precise identity of the underlying genes remains uncertain. We... -
2018
Journal article
Origin and diversification of winged bean (Psophocarpus tetragonolobus (L.) DC.), a multipurpose underutilized legume.
Yang, Shuyi ; Grall, Aurélie ; Chapman, Mark A.
Underutilized crop, Winged bean, Psophocarpus tetragonolobus, Plant origins, Diversification, Domestication, and Legume
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2022
Journal article
Genome Sequencing of up to 6,000-Year-Old Citrullus Seeds Reveals Use of a Bitter-Fleshed Species Prior to Watermelon Domestication.
Iconographic evidence from Egypt suggests that watermelon pulp was consumed there as a dessert by 4,360 BP. Earlier archaeobotanical evidence comes from seeds from Neolithic settlements in Libya, but whether these were watermelons with sweet pulp or other forms is unknown. We generated genome sequences from 6,000- and 3,300-year-old seeds... -
2021
Journal article
A chromosome-level genome of a Kordofan melon illuminates the origin of domesticated watermelons.
Wild progenitors of crops are important resources for breeding and for understanding domestication, but identifying them is difficult. Using an integrative approach, we discovered that a Sudanese form of melon with nonbitter whitish pulp, known as the Kordofan melon, is the closest relative of domesticated watermelons and a possible progenitor....