Inference of domestication history and differentiation between early- and late-flowering varieties in pearl millet

Pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum) is a staple crop in Sahelian Africa. Farmers usually grow varieties with different cycle lengths and complementary functions in Sahelian agrosystems. Both the level of genetic differentiation of these varieties and the domestication history of pearl millet have been poorly studied. We investigated the neutral genetic diversity and population genetic structure of early- and late-flowering domesticated and wild pearl millet populations using 18 microsatellite loci and 8 nucleotide sequences. Strikingly, early- and late-flowering domesticated varieties were not differentiated over their whole distribution area, despite a clear difference in their isolation-by-distance pattern. Conversely, our data brought evidence for two well-differentiated genetic pools in wild pearl millet, allowing us to test scenarios with different numbers and origins of domestication using approximate Bayesian computation (ABC). The ABC analysis showed the likely existence of asymme...

珍珠粟（Pearl millet, Pennisetum glaucum）是非洲萨赫勒地区的主粮作物。当地农户常于萨赫勒农业生态系统中种植生育期长短各异、功能互补的品种。目前针对该类品种的遗传分化水平以及珍珠粟的驯化历史的相关研究仍较为匮乏。本研究利用18个微卫星位点（microsatellite loci）与8条核苷酸序列，对早、晚花期的栽培与野生珍珠粟种群的中性遗传多样性及群体遗传结构展开了探究。值得注意的是，尽管早、晚开花的栽培品种在距离隔离模式上存在显著差异，但在其整体分布范围内并未出现遗传分化。反之，本研究数据证实野生珍珠粟存在两个分化程度极高的遗传基因库（genetic pools），据此我们可借助近似贝叶斯计算（approximate Bayesian computation, ABC）来验证不同驯化次数与驯化起源的假说场景。本次近似贝叶斯计算分析结果显示，极有可能存在不对称的...