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Fertile Crescent crop progenitors gained a competitive advantage from large seedlings.

ABSTRACT: Cereal domestication during the transition to agriculture resulted in widespread food production, but why only certain species were domesticated remains unknown. We tested whether seedlings of crop progenitors share functional traits that could give them a competitive advantage within anthropogenic environments, including higher germination, greater seedling survival, faster growth rates, and greater competitive ability.Fifteen wild grass species from the Fertile Crescent were grown individually under controlled conditions to evaluate differences in growth between cereal crop progenitors and other wild species that were never domesticated. Differences in germination, seedling survival, and competitive ability were measured by growing a subset of these species as monocultures and mixtures.Crop progenitors had greater germination success, germinated more quickly and had greater aboveground biomass when grown in competition with other species. There was no evidence of a difference in seedling survival, but seed size was positively correlated with a number of traits, including net assimilation rates, greater germination success, and faster germination under competition. In mixtures, the positive effect of seed mass on germination success and speed of germination was even more beneficial for crop progenitors than for other wild species, suggesting greater fitness. Thus, selection for larger seeded individuals under competition may have been stronger in the crop progenitors.The strong competitive ability of Fertile Crescent cereal crop progenitors, linked to their larger seedling size, represents an important ecological difference between these species and other wild grasses in the region. It is consistent with the hypothesis that competition within plant communities surrounding human settlements, or under early cultivation, benefited progenitor species, favoring their success as crops.

SUBMITTER: Preece C

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8019021 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:The origins of agriculture, 10 000 years ago, led to profound changes in the biology of plants exploited as grain crops, through the process of domestication. This special case of evolution under cultivation led to domesticated cereals and pulses requiring humans for their dispersal, but the accompanying mechanisms causing higher productivity in these plants remain unknown. The classical view of crop domestication is narrow, focusing on reproductive and seed traits including the dispersal, dormancy and size of seeds, without considering whole-plant characteristics. However, the effects of initial domestication events can be inferred from consistent differences between traditional landraces and their wild progenitors.We studied how domestication increased the yields of Fertile Crescent cereals and pulses using a greenhouse experiment to compare landraces with wild progenitors. We grew eight crops: barley, einkorn and emmer wheat, oat, rye, chickpea, lentil and pea. In each case, comparison of multiple landraces with their wild progenitors enabled us to quantify the effects of domestication rather than subsequent crop diversification. To reveal the mechanisms underpinning domestication-linked yield increases, we measured traits beyond those classically associated with domestication, including the rate and duration of growth, reproductive allocation, plant size and also seed mass and number.Cereal and pulse crops had on average 50% higher yields than their wild progenitors, resulting from a 40% greater final plant size, 90% greater individual seed mass and 38% less chaff or pod material, although this varied between species. Cereal crops also had a higher seed number per spike compared with their wild ancestors. However, there were no differences in growth rate, total seed number, proportion of reproductive biomass or the duration of growth.The domestication of Fertile Crescent crops resulted in larger seed size leading to a larger plant size, and also a reduction in chaff, with no decrease in seed number per individual, which proved a powerful package of traits for increasing yield. We propose that the important steps in the domestication process should be reconsidered, and the domestication syndrome broadened to include a wider range of traits.

Project description:ObjectiveTo characterize hepatitis C virus (HCV) epidemiology in countries of the Fertile Crescent region of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), namely Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, and Syria.MethodsWe systematically reviewed and synthesized available records of HCV incidence and prevalence following PRISMA guidelines. Meta-analyses were implemented using a DerSimonian-Laird random effects model with inverse weighting to estimate the country-specific HCV prevalence among the various at risk population groups.ResultsWe identified eight HCV incidence and 240 HCV prevalence measures in the Fertile Crescent. HCV sero-conversion risk among hemodialysis patients was 9.2% in Jordan and 40.3% in Iraq, and ranged between 0% and 3.5% among other populations in Iraq over different follow-up times. Our meta-analyses estimated HCV prevalence among the general population at 0.2% in Iraq (range: 0-7.2%; 95% CI: 0.1-0.3%), 0.3% in Jordan (range: 0-2.0%; 95% CI: 0.1-0.5%), 0.2% in Lebanon (range: 0-3.4%; 95% CI: 0.1-0.3%), 0.2% in Palestine (range: 0-9.0%; 95% CI: 0.2-0.3%), and 0.4% in Syria (range: 0.3-0.9%; 95% CI: 0.4-0.5%). Among populations at high risk, HCV prevalence was estimated at 19.5% in Iraq (range: 0-67.3%; 95% CI: 14.9-24.5%), 37.0% in Jordan (range: 21-59.5%; 95% CI: 29.3-45.0%), 14.5% in Lebanon (range: 0-52.8%; 95% CI: 5.6-26.5%), and 47.4% in Syria (range: 21.0-75.0%; 95% CI: 32.5-62.5%). Genotypes 4 and 1 appear to be the dominant circulating strains.ConclusionsHCV prevalence in the population at large appears to be below 1%, lower than that in other MENA sub-regions, and tending towards the lower end of the global range. However, there is evidence for ongoing HCV transmission within medical facilities and among people who inject drugs (PWID). Migration dynamics appear to have played a role in determining the circulating genotypes. HCV prevention efforts should be targeted, and focus on infection control in clinical settings and harm reduction among PWID.

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Fertile Crescent crop progenitors gained a competitive advantage from large seedlings.

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