Why and how are plants domesticated? In this research area we characterize the taxonomy and genetic variation in crop wild relatives and search for genomic mechanisms that allow for wild plants to become crops during human selection.
Project summary
The genomics of chili pepper: from spicy to bell pepper
In chili pepper (Capsicum spp) I have previously found that wild-cultivated hybrids are typically maintained in home-gardens and even in commercial chili pepper varieties. Along with my former students we used greenhouse experiments, quantitative genetics and transcriptomics, to show that regulatory factors inherited in a recessive manner play a role in fruit size in chili pepper. We will expand research in Capsicum, which is originally from the Americas, into South East Asia, mostly in Indonesia We will describe the ethnographic history and genomics of diversification of the chili pepper in Americas and Asia, and follow its trip to Europe, and Netherlands in particular. In the Netherlands we mostly use non-spicy bell pepper, the most amazing transformation of a fruit compared to its tiny, spicy wild relative.
Who workon this project?
This is a new area of research in Naturalis. We will build on previous research in Capsicum by myself and collaborators to continue telling the story of this amazing crop and its wild relatives.