CNRS-UPS-ENFA, EDB, UMR 5174, Bât. 4R1, 31062 Toulouse Cedex 9, France.
Proc Biol Sci. 2013 Feb 6;280(1756):20122833. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2012.2833. Print 2013 Apr 7.
The location and timing of domestication of the olive tree, a key crop in Early Mediterranean societies, remain hotly debated. Here, we unravel the history of wild olives (oleasters), and then infer the primary origins of the domesticated olive. Phylogeography and Bayesian molecular dating analyses based on plastid genome profiling of 1263 oleasters and 534 cultivated genotypes reveal three main lineages of pre-Quaternary origin. Regional hotspots of plastid diversity, species distribution modelling and macrofossils support the existence of three long-term refugia; namely the Near East (including Cyprus), the Aegean area and the Strait of Gibraltar. These ancestral wild gene pools have provided the essential foundations for cultivated olive breeding. Comparison of the geographical pattern of plastid diversity between wild and cultivated olives indicates the cradle of first domestication in the northern Levant followed by dispersals across the Mediterranean basin in parallel with the expansion of civilizations and human exchanges in this part of the world.
橄榄树是地中海早期社会的主要作物之一，其驯化的地点和时间一直存在争议。在这里，我们揭开了野生橄榄树（油橄榄）的历史，并推断出驯化橄榄的主要起源。基于对 1263 株油橄榄和 534 株栽培品种的质体基因组分析的系统地理学和贝叶斯分子年代学分析表明，存在三个起源于第四纪以前的主要谱系。质体多样性的区域热点、物种分布模型和大型化石支持了三个长期避难所的存在，即近东（包括塞浦路斯）、爱琴海地区和直布罗陀海峡。这些古老的野生基因库为橄榄的栽培育种提供了必要的基础。野生和栽培橄榄的质体多样性的地理模式比较表明，第一次驯化的摇篮是黎凡特北部，随后随着文明的扩张以及该地区人类的交流，橄榄在整个地中海盆地扩散开来。
