Fall 2006
Tuesday 12:05-12:55
D. Baum, E. Emshwiller, B. Larget, K. Sytsma - instructors
The domestication of diverse plants and animals was among the most significant events in the evolution of humans and has had a global ecological impact. Additionally, the genetics of domestication offers a superb system for studying the rapid evolution of plant genomes. Through the use of molecular approaches there has been great enhancement in our understanding of the origins of many of domesticated plants, their time and place of domestication, and evolutionary changes that occurred during and after the original domestication episode. In this course we will review a series of case studies in an effort to become familiarized with the recurring themes in plant domestication and also with the methods of analysis that are being brought to bear.
Sources: Documenting Domestication - New Genetic and Archaeological Paradigms [2006, eds. Zeder et al., University of California Press]; Darwin's Harvest - New Approaches to the Origins, Evolution, and Conservation of Crops [2006, eds. Motley et al., Columbia University Press]; Evolution of Crop Plants [1995, Smartt and Simmonds, Longman Scientific and Technical]
Expectations. Students enrolled in the class will be expected to attend all meetings and participate in the discussions (50% of grade). Additionally, each student will sign-up to give one powerpoint presentation (50% of grade). We have proposed an initial reading for each week, but a presenter should feel free to pick a different core paper (or more than one if they are short) if the one selected is not optimal. The presentation should be ca. 30 minutes in length and prepared in a widely accessible electronic format (e.g., powerpoint, PDF). Because we want the presentation to be useable by participants in the future, images in the presentation should be attributed in the presentation to a primary source – whether it be a publication or a website that holds copyright of the image. Also, a student should email the class a reference list a few days before the class.
| Date | Leader | Topic (with link to powerpoint) & Readings |
| Sep 5 | Organizational | Overview |
|
Sep 12 |
Eve Emshwiller | Introduction: Genetic Data and Plant Domestication - Emshwiller 2006 (Documenting Domestication); Review by Zeder & al. 2006 |
| Sep 19 |
Phil Gonsiska | Sunflower: Molecular Evidence and the Evolutionary History of the Domesticated Sunflower - Loren H. Rieseberg and Abigail V. Harter (Darwin's Harvest) |
| Sep 26 | Rachel Schmidt | Sugarcane: Molecular Evidence of Sugarcane Evolution and Domestication - Laurent Grivet, Jean-Christophe Glaszmann, and Angélique D'Hont (Darwin's Harvest) |
| Oct 3 | Claudia Calderon | Maize: Maize Origins, Domestication, and Selection - Edward S. Buckler IV and Natalie M. Stevens (Darwin's Harvest); Contributions of Tripsacum to Maize Diversity - Mary W. Eubanks (Darwin's Harvest) |
| Oct 10 | Jane Bradbury | Beans: Evolution of Genetic Diversity in Phaseolus vulgaris L. Roberto Papa, Laura Nanni, Delphine Sicard, Domenico Rau, and Giovanna Attene (Darwin's Harvest) |
| Oct 17 | Andy Gardner | Manioc: Evolution, Domestication, and Agrobiodiversity in the Tropical Crop Cassava - Barbara A. Schaal, Kenneth M. Olsen, and Luiz J. C. B. Carvalho (Darwin's Harvest); DNA Sequence Data and Inferences on Cassava's Origin of Domestication. Kenneth Olsen and Barbara Schaal (Documenting Domestication) |
| Oct 24 | Ben Grady | Wheat: Using Modern Landraces of Wheat to Study the Origins of European Agriculture - Terence A. Brown, Sarah Lindsay, and Robin G. Allaby (Darwin's Harvest); Phylogenetics of Triticum and Aegilops and Evidence for the Origin of the A, B, and D Genomes of Common Wheat (Triticum aestivum) - Gitte Petersen et al. |
| Oct 31 | Jake Fleming | Apple: Genetic Clues to the Origin of the Apple - Stephen Harris, Julian Robinson, and Barrie Juniper; Chloroplast Diversity in the Genus Malus: New Insights into the Relationship between the European Wild Apple and the Domesticated Apple - E. Coart et al. |
| Nov 7 | Brian Walsh | Capsicum: Phylogenetic Relationships of Capsicum (Solanaceae) using DNA Sequences . . . Brian Walsh and Sara Hoot; Analysis of Nuclear DNA Content in Capsicum (Solanaceae) by Flow Cytometry and Feulgen Densitometry - Eduardo Moscone et al.; Chromosome Numbers in Wild and Semidomesticated Brazilian Capsicum . . . - Marisa Pozzobon et al. [Read Abstract only] |
| Nov 14 | Mercedes Ames | Potato: Origins, Evolution, and Cultivar Group Classification of Cultivated Potatoes - David M. Spooner and Wilbert L. A. Hetterscheid (Darwin's Harvest); A Single Domestication for Potato Based on Multilocus Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphism Genotyping - David Spooner et al. |
| Nov 21 | Katie Konchar | Cotton: Cotton - Gossypium (Malvaceae) - Jonathan Wendel (Evolution of Crop Plants); Polyploidy and the Evolutionary History of Cotton - Jonathan Wendel and Richard Cronn |
| Nov 28 | Brent Berger | Breadfruit: Breadfruit Origins, Diversity, and Human-Facilitated Distribution - Nyree J. C. Zerega, Diane Ragone, and Timothy J. Motley (Darwin's Harvest); additional readings: Complex Origins of Breadfruit . . . Implications for Human Migrations in Oceania - Zerega et al. 2004; Systematics and Species Limits of Breadfruit - Zerega et al. 2005 |
| Dec 5 | Stephanie McFarlane | Olives: Using multiple types of molecular markers to understand olive phylogeography -Catherine Breton, Guillaume Besnard, and André A. Bervillé (Documenting Domestication) |
| Dec 12 | Ken Sytsma | Overview of themes |
