Ethnolinguistic structuring of sorghum genetic diversity in Africa and the role of local seed systems

Sorghum is a drought-tolerant crop with a vital role in the livelihoods of millions of people in marginal areas. We examined genetic structure in this diverse crop in Africa. On the continent-wide scale, we identified three major sorghum populations (Central, Southern, and Northern) that are associated with the distribution of ethnolinguistic groups on the continent. The codistribution of the Central sorghum population and the Nilo-Saharan language family supports a proposed hypothesis about a close and causal relationship between the distribution of sorghum and languages in the region between the Chari and the Nile rivers. The Southern sorghum population is associated with the Bantu languages of the Niger-Congo language family, in agreement with the farming-language codispersal hypothesis as it has been related to the Bantu expansion. The Northern sorghum population is distributed across early Niger-Congo and Afro-Asiatic language family areas with dry agroclimatic conditions. At a fin...

高粱（Sorghum）是一类耐旱作物，在边缘地区数百万民众的生计保障中扮演着关键角色。本研究针对非洲这一多样性丰富的作物，解析其遗传结构。在全大陆尺度下，我们鉴定出三大高粱种群（中部、南部与北部种群），其分布格局与非洲大陆的民族语言群体分布高度耦合。中部高粱种群与尼罗-撒哈拉语系（Nilo-Saharan language family）的共同分布，佐证了一项已提出的假说：沙里河与尼罗河之间的区域内，高粱分布与语言分布存在紧密且具有因果性的关联。南部高粱种群与尼日尔-刚果语系（Niger-Congo language family）的班图语支存在关联，这与“农耕-语言共同扩散”假说相符，而该假说已被证实与班图扩张（Bantu expansion）事件密切相关。北部高粱种群分布于尼日尔-刚果语系与亚非语系（Afro-Asiatic language family）的早期分布区域，上述区域均为干旱农业气候区。在精细化尺度下，原文此处内容未完成