White lupin crop has two separate ancient birthplaces
Annicchiarico P, Nevado B, Nazzicari N, Crosta M
Crop Improvement
If you grow beans, peas, or other legumes, this study shows how tracing a crop's genetic roots back to its wild ancestors can unlock hardier, more diverse varieties for future breeding.
White lupin is an old crop grown for its protein-rich seeds, and scientists wanted to know where it really came from. By reading the DNA of over a hundred traditional farmer varieties alongside modern cultivars and wild plants, they discovered the crop was likely domesticated twice, once in Greece and once in Italy, and these two groups later mixed as farmers traded seeds around the Mediterranean. Modern commercial varieties turned out to have surprisingly little genetic diversity compared to these old farmer-kept strains, which matters because that diversity is exactly what breeders need to make future crops more resilient.
Key Findings
Analysis of 112 landrace accessions across 11 regional pools, plus modern cultivars and wild types, revealed sharp genetic distinctness of wild material and notably low diversity in modern cultivars compared to landraces.
Genetic differentiation was greatest at the finest scale: variation within landraces (between individual plants) exceeded variation between landraces, which in turn exceeded variation between regional pools.
Phylogenetic and migration analysis pointed to dual, independent domestication events in Greece and Italy, with Greek germplasm spreading into North-East Africa and the Near East and Italian germplasm spreading across the wider Mediterranean, later hybridizing in several regions.
chevron_right Technical Summary
Scientists mapped the genetic family tree of white lupin, a legume crop grown for protein-rich seeds, and found it likely originated independently in both Greece and Italy before those two lineages spread and interbred across the Mediterranean and beyond. The findings give breeders a clearer roadmap for tapping untapped genetic diversity to improve the crop.
Abstract Preview
Original paper
Genetic diversity and phylogenetic relationships in white lupin.
Information on the genetic variation and phylogenetic relationships of white lupin (Lupinus albus L.) can support the increasing plant breeding effort on this crop. This study aimed to: (a) assess ...
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Lupinus albus, commonly known as the white lupin, is a species of the genus Lupinus in the family Fabaceae native to the northeastern Mediterranean region. It is also a traditional pulse cultivated across the Mediterranean region and elsewhere.