Early evidence of avocado domestication from El Gigante Rockshelter, Honduras

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: VanDerwarker, Amber M.; Thakar, Heather B.; Hirth, Kenneth; Domic, Alejandra I.; Harper, Thomas K.; George, Richard J.; Johnson, Emily S.; Newhall, Victoria; Scheffler, Timothy E.; McCool, Weston C.; Wann, Kevin; Gaut, Brandon S.; Kistler, Logan; Kennett, Douglas J.
• 署名单位: University of California System; University of California Santa Barbara; Texas A&M University System; Texas A&M University College Station; Pennsylvania Commonwealth System of Higher Education (PCSHE); Pennsylvania State University; Pennsylvania State University - University Park; Pennsylvania Commonwealth System of Higher Education (PCSHE); Pennsylvania State University; Pennsylvania State University - University Park; University of California System; University of California Los Angeles; Utah System of Higher Education; University of Utah; University of California System; University of California Irvine; Smithsonian Institution; Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History
• 刊物名称: PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0027-9917
• DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2417072122
• 发表日期: 2025-03-11
• 关键词: tree chrysophyllum-cainito; persea-americana mill.; origins; forest; maya; management; cultivation; maize; dates; crop

摘要

Molecular research suggests that avocados (Persea americana Mill.) were domesticated multiple times in the Americas. Seed exchange, hybridization, and cloning have played an essential role across their wild distribution from Mexico to South America to create the modern varieties of today. Archaeological sites with well- preserved and directly radiocarbon- dated botanical assemblages are rare, however, so we know very little about the complexities of the domestication process. Here, we define an early locus of avocado domestication using well- dated desiccated and carbonized avocado remains from El Gigante rockshelter in western Honduras spanning the last 11,000 y. Measurements of avocado seeds and rinds show evidence for long- term management resulting in selection for larger, more robust fruits through time that culminated by 2,250 to 2,080 calendar cana var. guatemalensis and is congruent with genetic data for the development of this rind thickness through time are consistent with genetic evidence for the enrichment of putative candidate genes for fruit development and ripening in this variety.