Latin American Tomato Evolution (IMAGE)
Caption
Tomato domestication history is generally depicted as a "two-step" process with an increase in fruit size from blueberry-sized SP to generally cherry-sized SLC, and then to the very large-fruited common tomatoes (SLL) consumed around the world. All the signs from the study analyses pointed to the intermediate group (SLC) emerging in Ecuador---far earlier than human domestication--- then spreading out northward over time, suggesting that human use of SLC came much later.
They reconstructed a putative domestication history of tomato groups, focusing especially on the under-explored intermediate stage represented by SLC. They found that SLC originated in Ecuador probably as a wild species over 78 KYA, likely as a vicariance event that separated more coastal SP populations from inland emerging SLC.
Credit
Hamid Razifard, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
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