Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
Virtual Plant and Animal Genome XXIX Conference, California, Amerika Birleşik Devletleri, 8 - 12 Ocak 2022, ss.5-6
From vindaloo to ratatouille, kung pao to Tex-Mex, chilli peppers and capsicums (Capsicum
spp.) are valued staples in cuisines across the globe, prized for their garish aesthetics, diverse
flavours, and pungency. First domesticated in South- and Mesoamerica, the Age of Discovery
began a dynamic global trade in peppers, resulting in a highly intermixed distribution of pepper
varieties across regions of the globe. This high degree of inter-region overlap makes genetic
inference on pepper’s history a unique challenge, especially with limited sample numbers.
Fortunately, genebanks across the globe preserve an excellent representation of pepper diversity
in different regions, and the G2P-Sol project (EU) recently completed the GBS sequencing of
over 10,000 such accessions. Leveraging this vast dataset, we developed the novel method
ReMIXTURE (“Regional Mixture”) to complement traditional methods and allow insight into
how the kinds of peppers cultivated in various regions overlap with those from various other
regions. Despite low genetic differentiation, we were able to detect the signatures of transatlantic
maritime trade routes, overland trade in the Americas and Eurasia, and the role of Africa as an
important node joining the Americas to the East. The varying degrees of uniqueness of peppers
found in each region were quantified, revealing hotspots of potential diversity (Mesoamerica,
Southeast Asia, and Africa in particular) exploitable by breeders with an interest in introducing
novel genetic variants and phenotypes to breeding efforts. The study also allowed us to assess
aspects of genebank management such as duplicate detection, and to identify the influence of
recent selective pressures on genes affecting fruit pungency and other qualities.