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Remnant genetic diversity detected in an ancient crop: Triticum dicoccon Schrank landraces from Asturias, Spain

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Abstract

Emmer wheat, Triticum dicoccon Schrank was one of the founder crops of Neolithic agriculture. Though its cultivation was largely replaced by hexaploid wheats 2000 years ago, pockets of small scale cultivation can still be found. One such area is the Asturias region of Northern Spain, where emmer wheat remains a traditional crop for high value specialist culinary uses, and farmers grow locally adapted landraces. In order to study the diversity of these landraces, we sampled emmer wheat from different regions of Asturias, and genotyped multiple plants from each village using nuclear and chloroplast microsatellites. A high level of variation was observed with markers from both genomes, including a novel chloroplast haplotype. A strong geographic structure was observed in the Asturian emmer wheats in both the chloroplast markers and the nuclear microsatellite data.

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Acknowledgments

This work was funded by the Natural Environment Research Council as part of the consortium project ‘The Domestication of Europe’. We thank the project partners at the University of Cambridge, University of Manchester and University of Sheffield for helpful advice. The consortium consists of Mim Bower (McDonald Institute of Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3DZ), Keri Brown (Faculty of Life Sciences, Jackson’s Mill, The University of Manchester, PO Box 88, Manchester M60 1QD), Mike Charles (Department of Archaeology, University of Sheffield, Northgate House, West Street, Sheffield S1 4ET), Sue Colledge (Department of Archaeology, University of Sheffield, Northgate House, West Street, Sheffield S1 4ET), Rachel Giles (Faculty of Life Sciences, Jackson’s Mill, The University of Manchester, PO Box 88, Manchester M60 1QD), Glynis Jones (Department of Archaeology, University of Sheffield, Northgate House, West Street, Sheffield S1 4ET), Huw Jones (NIAB, Huntingdon Road, Cambridge CB3 0LE, UK), Martin Jones (McDonald Institute of Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3DZ), Fiona Leigh (NIAB, Huntingdon Road, Cambridge CB3 0LE, UK), Diane Lister (McDonald Institute of Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3DZ), Wayne Powell (NIAB, Huntingdon Road, Cambridge CB3 0LE, UK), Lydia Smith (NIAB, Huntingdon Road, Cambridge CB3 0LE, UK), Susan Thaw (Faculty of Life Sciences, Jackson’s Mill, The University of Manchester, PO Box 88, Manchester M60 1QD) and Terry Brown (Faculty of Life Sciences, Jackson’s Mill, The University of Manchester, PO Box 88, Manchester M60 1QD).HO is funded by a Portuguese Science and Technology Foundation doctoral grant (Ref. SFRH/BD/21748/2005). We wish to acknowledge the expertise of Leonor Peña-Chocarro and the generosity of all the farmers who donated material for this research.

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Author notes

  1. Hugo R. Oliveira

    Present address: IFM - Biology, Linköpings Universitet, 581 83, Linköping, Sweden

Authors and Affiliations

  1. NIAB, The John Bingham Building, Huntingdon Road, Cambridge, CB3 0LE, UK

    Fiona J. Leigh, Ian Mackay, Huw Jones & Lydia Smith

  2. Department of Archaeology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge, CB2 3DZ, UK

    Hugo R. Oliveira & Martin Jones

  3. Crop Genetics, Dupont Experimental Station, P. O. Box 80353, Wilmington, DE, 19880-0353, USA

    Petra Wolters

  4. Department of Archaeology, University of Sheffield, Northgate House, West Street, Sheffield, S1 4ET, UK

    Mike Charles & Glynis Jones

  5. Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences, Aberystwyth University, Aberystwyth, Ceredigion, SY23 3DA, UK

    Wayne Powell

  6. Faculty of Life Sciences, Manchester Interdisciplinary Biocentre, University of Manchester, Manchester, M1 7DN, UK

    Terence A. Brown

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Correspondence to Fiona J. Leigh.

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Leigh, F.J., Oliveira, H.R., Mackay, I. et al. Remnant genetic diversity detected in an ancient crop: Triticum dicoccon Schrank landraces from Asturias, Spain. Genet Resour Crop Evol 60, 355–365 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10722-012-9840-8

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