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(American Journal of Botany. 2009;96:1190-1202.) doi: 10.3732/ajb.0800155 © 2009 Botanical Society of America, Inc.

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Genetic diversity and structure in semiwild and domesticated chiles (Capsicum annuum; Solanaceae) from Mexico¹

² Centro de Investigaciones Tropicales (CITRO), Universidad Veracruzana, Interior de la Ex-hacienda Lucas Martín, Privada de Araucarias s/n Col. 21 de Marzo, Xalapa, Veracruz, México, C. P. 91113; and Department of Botany and Plant Sciences, University of California, Riverside, California 92521 USA ³ Monsanto Company, St. Louis, Missouri 63167 USA ⁴ Department of Botany and Plant Sciences, University of California, Riverside, California 92521 USA

ABSTRACT

The chile of Mesoamerica, Capsicum annuum, is one of five domesticated chiles in the Americas. Among the chiles, it varies the most in size, form, and color of its fruits. Together with maize, C. annuum is one of the principal elements of the neotropical diets of Mesoamerican civilizations. Despite the great economic and cultural importance of C. annuum both worldwide and in Mexico, however, very little is known about its geographic origin and number of domestications. Here we sampled a total of 80 accessions from Mexico (58 semiwild and 22 domesticated) and examined nucleotide sequence diversity at three single- or low-copy nuclear loci, Dhn, G3pdh, and Waxy. Across the three loci, we found an average reduction of ca. 10% in the diversity of domesticates relative to semiwild chiles and geographic structure within Mexican populations. The Yucatan Peninsula contained a large number of haplotypes, many of which were unique, suggesting an important region of chile domestication and center of diversity. The present sampling of loci did not conclusively resolve the number and location of domestications, but several lines of evidence suggest multiple independent domestications from widely distributed progenitor populations.

Key Words: Capsicum annuum • chiles • Dhn • domestication • genetic diversity • G3pdh • Mexico • nuclear loci • Solanaceae • Waxy • Yucatan Peninsula

Received for publication 30 April 2008. Accepted for publication 30 January 2009.

FOOTNOTES

¹ This paper represents a portion of a dissertation submitted to the University of California at Riverside for partial fulfillment of the first author’s doctoral degree. The authors thank C. Federici, S. Hedge, T. Girke, E. Rodriguez, C. Ramadugu, and Y.-G. Choi, for their technical advice. This project was supported in part by a UC-MEXUS Dissertation Research Grant, a UCR Genomics Institute Grant, CONACYT, and a gift from the McIlhenny Company. Suggestions from two anonymous reviewers and the Associate Editor, Paul Gepts, greatly improved an earlier version of the manuscript.

⁵ Authors for correspondence (S.-C.K., e-mail: sckim{at}ucr.edu); phone: 1-951-827-2403, fax: 1-951-827-4437) or (A.A.-M., e-mail: capsicum04{at}mac.com)

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