Abstract Detail

Darwins' reversals: What we now know about Feralization and Crop Wild Relatives

Mabry, Makenzie [1], Soltis, Douglas E. [2], Soltis, Pamela S. [3].

The History and Exciting Prospects of Crop Feralization Research.

Feral crops, or populations of plants which originate from domesticated species but successfully persist outside of cultivation, have intrigued researchers for centuries. While Darwin noted that cultivated plants could revert back to a wild-like state in 1868, referring to them as reversals, many researchers since then have worked to understand the occurrence of feralization in plants. With the advent of high-throughput DNA sequencing, genomic resources designed for the domestic counterparts of these feral plants, and phylogenetic and population genomic data, experiments can be designed to disentangle complex demographic processes such as local adaptation and natural selection. Feral plants provide unique opportunities to study complex traits and may be better populations to target for identification of traits for crop improvement. However, these feral populations are typically more likely than cultivars to be affected by predicted climate change. We present examples of how the study of feral plants, combining data from genomics to herbarium specimens, can be used to understand rapid adaptation, especially response to climate change, with applications to crop improvement and food security. With genomic resources from the domesticated progenitors of these feral populations readily available, the time is ripe for research on feralization.

1 - University Of Florida, Florida Museum Of Natural History, 1659 Museum Road, Gainesville, FL, 32611, United States
2 - University of Florida, 1659 Museum Road, Gainesville, Florida, 32611, United States
3 - University Of Florida, Florida Museum Of Natural History, PO Box 117800, Gainesville, FL, 32611, United States

Keywords:
none specified

Presentation Type: Colloquium Presentations
Session: C03, Darwins' reversals: What we now know about Feralization and Crop Wild Relatives
Location: /
Date: Tuesday, July 20th, 2021
Time: 10:00 AM(EDT)
Number: C03001
Abstract ID:563
Candidate for Awards:None