Abstract Detail

Economic Botany Section

Meyer, Rachel [1], Sanches, Michelle [2], Purugganan, Michael [3].

Who spread African rice? Curiosities roused by combining landscape genomics with farmer practices in the Bight of Benin versus Senegal.

African rice (Oryza glaberrima Steud.) was domesticated in Western sub-Saharan Africa over 2000 years ago. Different theories about its center of origin of domestication have been posited. One theory suggests the upper Niger River Delta as a center, and others have suggested multiple centers or secondary centers that also include areas along the Atlantic coast. Whole genome resequencing of 95 African rice landraces allowed for population genetic analyses to be done that show clear distinct populations among these candidate centers. Using this framework, we explored alleles related to adaptation including domestication and diversification to tolerate new landscapes. Surprisingly, resulting patterns point to a secondary center as a source of genetic diversity at putatively adaptive loci, which adds a third theory whereby African rice was domesticated in a single origin but not in the inland delta, but rather, the lower Niger basin.
We performed farmer interviews in Benin and in Senegal to understand how selection for seeds occurs and what agronomic practices that shape diversity might be. These results were contrasted with the allelic patterns of candidate adaptive loci. Correlations between genotypes, phenotypes, or agroecological data and landscape climate data were also made to delineate natural geographic structure from what might be signatures of human impact on African rice diversity under domestication.

1 - New York University, 12 Waverly Place, New York, NY, 10003, USA
2 - New York University, Biology, 9 Quaker Road, New Fairfield, CT, 06812, USA
3 - New York University, Biology, 12 Waverly Place, New York, NY, 10003, USA

Keywords:
Oryza
poaceae
Domestication
West Africa
Salinity
Crop Diversity
whole genome sequencing
agronomy.

Presentation Type: Oral Paper:Papers for Sections
Session: 4
Location: Salon 2/The Shaw Conference Centre
Date: Monday, July 27th, 2015
Time: 10:30 AM
Number: 4010
Abstract ID:1187
Candidate for Awards:None