Researchers from 19 Institutions, led by an URJC professor, have analysed and published the biological traits and evolutionary placement of a set of more than 1000 domesticated species around the world.
The species of plants and animals that we use for food provision, such as wheat or sheep, were formerly wild species which underwent domestication since the late Paleolithic. In this context, a set of researchers have united efforts to build a global database on the evolution and biological traits of more than 1000 food species. "We set up to address two objectives", explains Rubén Milla, led author of the project. "First, we asked if plant and animal domesticates belong to a few or to many evolutionary lineages, and second we inquired if those species shared biological characteristics with their wild relatives".
The main finding of the study is that the traits of domesticated species are a subgroup of those we find in wild species. For instances, even if agricultural species tend to yield big seeds or livestock species tend to be large in size, those traits can also be found among wild species.
The paper has been published in Nature Ecology & Evolution, a journal of the influential Nature group. This work calls to amplify the search for new species that can be used as human food in the future. The results could be used to pinpoint which are the relevant traits of food species, and in this way facilitate the search of wild species that portray such characteristics.
FOOD SPECIES IN THE TREE OF LIFE
An additional contribution of the study is the finding that food plants come from very diverse evolutionary origins, whereas livestock animals belong to a few linages. "Even if some of the main agricultural crops belong to a few botanical families, such as the legumes or the grasses, we find food plants in many other evolutionary linages of plants", says Milla. Thus, this study will provide the scientific community with a valuable database on food species and on their wild relatives, which was unavailable to date, and which will ease future research in this area.
Bibliographical Reference:
Milla, Rubén, et al. 2018. Phylogenetic patterns and phenotypic profiles of the species of plants and mammals farmed for food. Nature Ecology & Evolution. doi: 10.1038/s41559-018-0690-4
