Genetic analyses and dispersal patterns unveil the Amazonian origin of guava domestication.

Guava (Psidium guajava L.) is a semi-domesticated fruit tree of moderate importance in the Neotropics, utilized for millennia due to its nutritional and medicinal benefits, but its origin of domestication remains unknown. In this study, we examine genetic diversity and population structure in 215 plants from 11 countries in Mesoamerica, the Andes, and Amazonia using 25 nuclear microsatellite loci to propose an origin of domestication.

Fluctuation of ecological niches and geographic range shifts along chile pepper's domestication gradient.

Domestication is an ongoing well-described process. However, while many have studied the changes domestication causes in plant genetics, few have explored its impact on the portion of the geographic landscape in which the plants exist. Therefore, the goal of this study was to understand how the process of domestication changed the geographic space suitable for chile pepper () in its center of origin (domestication).

Population structure in diverse pepper (Capsicum spp.) accessions.

Background: Peppers, bell and chile, are a culturally and economically important worldwide. Domesticated Capsicum spp. are distributed globally and represent a complex of valuable genetic resources.

Environment of origin and domestication affect morphological, physiological, and agronomic response to water deficit in chile pepper (Capsicum sp.).

Global climate change is having a significant effect on agriculture by causing greater precipitation variability and an increased risk of drought. To mitigate these effects, it is important to identify specific traits, adaptations, and germplasm that improve tolerance to soil water deficit. Local varieties, known as landraces, have undergone generations of farmer-mediated selection and can serve as sources of variation, specifically for tolerance to abiotic stress.

Genetic diversity, gene flow, and differentiation among wild, semiwild, and landrace chile pepper (Capsicum annuum) populations in Oaxaca, Mexico.

Premise: Capsicum annuum (Solanaceae) was originally domesticated in Mexico, where wild (C. annuum var. glabriusculum) and cultivated (C.

Germination response of diverse wild and landrace chile peppers (Capsicum spp.) under drought stress simulated with polyethylene glycol.

Responses to drought within a single species may vary based on plant developmental stage, drought severity, and the avoidance or tolerance mechanisms employed. Early drought stress can restrict emergence and seedling growth. Thus, in areas where water availability is limited, rapid germination leading to early plant establishment may be beneficial.

Genome-wide genotyping of a novel Mexican Chile Pepper collection illuminates the history of landrace differentiation after L. domestication.

Studies of genetic diversity among phenotypically distinct crop landraces improve our understanding of fruit evolution and genome structure under domestication. Chile peppers ( spp. L.

Appropriate homoplasy metrics in linked SSRs to predict an underestimation of demographic expansion times.

Background: Homoplasy affects demographic inference estimates. This effect has been recognized and corrective methods have been developed. However, no studies so far have defined what homoplasy metrics best describe the effects on demographic inference, or have attempted to estimate such metrics in real data.

Phylogenetic relationships and species delimitation in pinus section trifoliae inferrred from plastid DNA.

Recent diversification followed by secondary contact and hybridization may explain complex patterns of intra- and interspecific morphological and genetic variation in the North American hard pines (Pinus section Trifoliae), a group of approximately 49 tree species distributed in North and Central America and the Caribbean islands. We concatenated five plastid DNA markers for an average of 3.9 individuals per putative species and assessed the suitability of the five regions as DNA bar codes for species identification, species delimitation, and phylogenetic reconstruction.

Phylogeography of Pinus subsection Australes in the Caribbean Basin.

Background And Aims: Four species of Pinus subsection Australes occur in the Caribbean Basin: P. caribaea, P. cubensis, P.