CHLOROPLAST DNA POLYMORPHISM SUGGESTS NIGERIAN CENTER OF DOMESTICATION FOR THE COWPEA, VIGNA UNGUICULATA (LEGUMINOSAE).

Twenty-one independent chloroplast DNA polymorphisms were identified in Vigna unguiculata defining 19 different chloroplast DNA molecules (plastome types). Two plastome types, differing by a single character, were found among 32 accessions of cultivated cowpea (Vigna unguiculata ssp. unguiculata). Eighteen different plastome types were found among 26 accessions of wild cowpea (V. unguiculata ssp. dekindtiana). The very low level of chloroplast DNA diversity found in cultivated accessions relative to wild cowpea suggests that 1) the domesticated form was derived from a narrow selection of the wild germplasm and 2) chloroplast gene flow between wild and cultivated types has been very limited. Cladistic analysis of the cpDNA data generated a robust tree completely lacking homoplasy. Three wild accessions from Nigeria possessed a plastome type indistinguishable from one present in cultivated accessions, suggesting that Nigeria represents one center of domestication of the cowpea. The other plastome type within the cultivated germplasm was not found among wild accessions.