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Dryad

Landscape genomics reveals genetic signals of environmental adaptation of African wild eggplant

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Sep 18, 2023 version files 45.35 MB

Abstract

Crop wild relatives possess desirable traits that confer resilience to various environmental stresses. We applied landscape genomics, that associates environment with genomic variation to understand the genetic basis of their adaptation. 

 

In this study, we applied landscape genomics to examine the differences in allele frequency of 15,416 Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) among 153 accessions of wild eggplant relatives from Africa, the principal hotspot of these wild relatives. Further, we explored the correlation between the genetic variations and the bio-climatic and soil conditions at their collection sites.

 

Our results showed that the environment has a greater impact on the genetic variation in the eggplant wild relative populations compared to the geographical distances between collection sites while controlling for population structure. These findings indicate the relevance of the environment in shaping genetic variation in eggplant relatives over time. We detected also candidate SNPs associated with ten environmental factors. Some of these SNPs signal genes involved in pathways that help with adaptation to environmental stresses such as drought, heat, cold, salinity, pests, and diseases.