Combining Biological Approaches to Shed Light on the Evolution of Edible Bananas

Abstract

Deciphering the diversity of the banana complex needs a joint characterization and analysis of the original wild species and their relatives, primitive diploid forms and triploid derived varieties. Sexuality, the primary source of diversity, is strongly disrupted in the cultivated varieties (sterility, parthenocarpy and vegetative propagation) by human selection of vegetatively maintained punctuated mutations. Many biological tools are available for characterizing this diversity, each one illustrating some peculiar facets, and we show that their joint analysis enables an evolutionary reading of this diversity. We propose various scenarios regarding the structure of wild species, on the domestication of the edible diploids from hybrids between wild forms, on the direct ancestry of triploids from cultivated diploids, and on the ancient migrations dispersing cultivated forms around the world. The comparison with data from archaeology, linguistics and human genetics will enable the validation, refinement and dating of the proposed domestication process.

Molecular and cytological characterization of the global Musa germplasm collection provides insights into the treasure of banana diversity

“…African set in cluster IX contains AA cultivars found in East Africa and nearby islands of the Indian Ocean. It has been proposed that progenitors of this set (which most probably originated in the area between New Guinea, Borneo and Java and was brought to the East African coast through human migration; Perrier et al 2009) were the diploid parents of the subgroups AAA 'Cavendish' and AAA 'Gros Michel' (Hippolyte et al 2012). Our results support this notion.…”

Relevance of Banana Seeds in Archaeology

“…The results of recent genetic research are showing how the process comprised a long period of hybridizations among taxa from different areas (Perrier et al 2009). Humans have been instrumental in bringing these taxa into areas where the hybridizations took place.…”

Why Bananas Matter: An introduction to the history of banana domestication

“…Simmonds and spp. errans (Blanco) R.V.Valmayor, still require further genetic clarification (Perrier et al 2009). For example, one M. acuminata form typical of the higher altitudes of Peninsular Malaysia was erroneously considered by Simmonds (1956) to form part of the ssp.…”

“…banksii probably generated semi-edible diploid bananas (AA) for a long time. DNA-marking has further indicated that the subspecies must have played a major role in the generation of many common edible diploids and triploids (Perrier et al 2009). It is thus plausible that human contacts in the New Guinea region and across the Sunda area caused natural hybridization of the semi-edible AA with other acuminata subspecies, thus eventually generating the current complex edible AA/AAA-pattern typical for Island Southeast Asia (Denham & Donohue 2009 The African Plantains apparently underwent a sustained tertiary diversification in Africa over a long time, judging from the large number of cultivars that have never been recorded elsewhere (Blench 2009, De Langhe 2007.…”