Genetic diversity and domestication of piquiá (Caryocar villosum) originated from forest and home gardens of the Tapajós National Forest

• Grant number: 17/04868-6
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Start date: August 01, 2017
• End date: July 31, 2018
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Forestry Resources and Forestry Engineering - Nature Conservation
• Agreement: Coordination of Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES)
• Principal Investigator: Elizabeth Ann Veasey
• Grantee: Ana Flávia Francisconi
• Host Institution: Escola Superior de Agricultura Luiz de Queiroz (ESALQ). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Piracicaba , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The domestication of plants is a coevolutionary process, involving the selection and human propagation of phenotypes of interest, which may result in morphological and genetic changes, distinguishing the domesticated plants from their wild progenitors. In the Amazon, species selection dates from the late Pleistocene and early Holocene, having at least 83 native plant species with populations with some degree of domestication. The piquiá (Caryocar villosum) possibly presents incipiently domesticated populations in the region of the low Tapajós River, and has nutritional and medicinal value for the local traditional populations. Traditional populations of FLONA Tapajós make the selection, planting and management of piquiás in their yards, propagating seeds and favoring trees that have sweet fruits. On the other hand, pollination by bats may be ensuring that the gene flow is continuous between selected individuals (present in home gardens) and forest. This project intends to evaluate, using microsatellite markers, the diversity and genetic and spatial structure of the piquiás found in home gardens and forest in two communities of FLONA Tapajós to determine the level of domestication of the populations. Twenty-six piquiás found in home gardens and 110 piquiás from the forest, will be evaluated using genetic diversity parameters. To verify if there is any distinction in the population, the genetic structure will be evaluated using Bayesian analysis, with the Structure software and through the DAPC, cluster analysis and AMOVA. It is also proposed to make the geographical delimitation between the two possible sub-populations of piquiás (forest and home gardens) with the use of the Geneland package. The spatial genetic structure will be determined in three different levels: (1) between genotypes of forest piquiás, (2) between home gardens piquiás, and (3) among all piquiás studied, to determine if there is greater similarity between neighbors and evaluate the gene flow. (AU)

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

FRANCISCONI, ANA FLAVIA; ALVES, RUBANA PALHARES; CLEMENT, CHARLES R.; DEQUIGIOVANNI, GABRIEL; DE CARVALHO, IGOR A. S.; VEASEY, ELIZABETH A.. Genetic structure and diversity identify incipient domestication of Piquia [Caryocar villosum (Aubl.) pers.] along the lower Tapajos River, Brazilian Amazonia. Genetic Resources and Crop Evolution, v. 68, n. 4, JAN 2021. (17/04868-6)

Academic Publications

(References retrieved automatically from State of São Paulo Research Institutions)

FRANCISCONI, Ana Flávia. Diversity, genetic structure and domestication of piquiás (Caryocar villosum) in two localities of the Brazilian Amazon. 2018. Master's Dissertation - Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Escola Superior de Agricultura Luiz de Queiroz (ESALA/BC) Piracicaba.