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The Discovery of Wild Date Palms in Oman Reveals a Complex Domestication History Involving Centers in the Middle East and Africa.

  • Gros-Balthazard M Institut des Sciences de l'Evolution, Université de Montpellier, UMR 5554 CNRS / Université de Montpellier / IRD / EPHE, CC065, Equipe Dynamique de la Biodiversité, Anthropo-écologie, Place Eugène Bataillon, 34095 Montpellier Cedex 5, France; Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, Université de Montpellier, UMR DIADE, 911 Avenue Agropolis, 34394 Montpellier Cedex 5, France; Department of Biology, University of Fribourg, Chemin du Musée 10, 1700 Fribourg, Switzerland; Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, 1700 Fribourg, Switzerland. Electronic address: muriel.grosb@gmail.com.
  • Galimberti M Department of Biology, University of Fribourg, Chemin du Musée 10, 1700 Fribourg, Switzerland; Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, 1700 Fribourg, Switzerland.
  • Kousathanas A Department of Biology, University of Fribourg, Chemin du Musée 10, 1700 Fribourg, Switzerland; Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, 1700 Fribourg, Switzerland; Unit of Human Evolutionary Genetics, Institut Pasteur, 75015 Paris, France.
  • Newton C Institut des Sciences de l'Evolution, Université de Montpellier, UMR 5554 CNRS / Université de Montpellier / IRD / EPHE, CC065, Equipe Dynamique de la Biodiversité, Anthropo-écologie, Place Eugène Bataillon, 34095 Montpellier Cedex 5, France; Laboratoire d'Archéologie et de Patrimoine, Université du Québec à Rimouski, 300 Allée des Ursulines, Rimouski, QC G5L 3AI, Canada.
  • Ivorra S Institut des Sciences de l'Evolution, Université de Montpellier, UMR 5554 CNRS / Université de Montpellier / IRD / EPHE, CC065, Equipe Dynamique de la Biodiversité, Anthropo-écologie, Place Eugène Bataillon, 34095 Montpellier Cedex 5, France.
  • Paradis L Institut des Sciences de l'Evolution, Université de Montpellier, UMR 5554 CNRS / Université de Montpellier / IRD / EPHE, CC065, Equipe Dynamique de la Biodiversité, Anthropo-écologie, Place Eugène Bataillon, 34095 Montpellier Cedex 5, France.
  • Vigouroux Y Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, Université de Montpellier, UMR DIADE, 911 Avenue Agropolis, 34394 Montpellier Cedex 5, France.
  • Carter R UCL Qatar, University College London, Doha, Qatar.
  • Tengberg M UMR 7209 Archéozoologie et Archéobotanique, CNRS and Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, 75005 Paris, France.
  • Battesti V UMR 7206 Éco-anthropologie et Ethnobiologie, CNRS and Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle (Musée de l'Homme), 75016 Paris, France.
  • Santoni S UMR Genetic Improvement and Adaptation of Mediterranean and Tropical Plants, INRA Montpellier, 34398 Montpellier Cedex 5, France.
  • Falquet L Department of Biology, University of Fribourg, Chemin du Musée 10, 1700 Fribourg, Switzerland; Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, 1700 Fribourg, Switzerland.
  • Pintaud JC Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, Université de Montpellier, UMR DIADE, 911 Avenue Agropolis, 34394 Montpellier Cedex 5, France.
  • Terral JF Institut des Sciences de l'Evolution, Université de Montpellier, UMR 5554 CNRS / Université de Montpellier / IRD / EPHE, CC065, Equipe Dynamique de la Biodiversité, Anthropo-écologie, Place Eugène Bataillon, 34095 Montpellier Cedex 5, France.
  • Wegmann D Department of Biology, University of Fribourg, Chemin du Musée 10, 1700 Fribourg, Switzerland; Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, 1700 Fribourg, Switzerland. Electronic address: daniel.wegmann@unif.ch.
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  • 2017-07-18
Published in:
  • Current biology : CB. - 2017
Phoenix atlantica
Phoenix dactylifera
Phoenix sylvestris
crop domestication
date palm
demographic inference
genome annotation
microsatellites
seed morphometrics
whole-genome sequencing
Domestication
Oman
Phoeniceae
English For many crops, wild relatives constitute an extraordinary resource for cultivar improvement [1, 2] and also help to better understand the history of their domestication [3]. However, the wild ancestor species of several perennial crops have not yet been identified. Perennial crops generally present a weak domestication syndrome allowing cultivated individuals to establish feral populations difficult to distinguish from truly wild populations, and there is frequently ongoing gene flow between wild relatives and the crop that might erode most genetic differences [4]. Here we report the discovery of populations of the wild ancestor species of the date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.), one of the oldest and most important cultivated fruit plants in hot and arid regions of the Old World. We discovered these wild individuals in remote and isolated mountainous locations of Oman. They are genetically more diverse than and distinct from a representative sample of Middle Eastern cultivated date palms and exhibit rounded seed shapes resembling those of a close sister species and archeological samples, but not modern cultivars. Whole-genome sequencing of several wild and cultivated individuals revealed a complex domestication history involving the contribution of at least two wild sources to African cultivated date palms. The discovery of wild date palms offers a unique chance to further elucidate the history of this iconic crop that has constituted the cornerstone of traditional oasis polyculture systems for several thousand years [5].
Language
  • English
Open access status
bronze
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https://sonar.ch/global/documents/130458
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