Historical and Scientific Evidence for the Origin and Cultural Importance to Australia's First-Nations Peoples of the Laboratory Accession of a Model for Plant Virology.

is an indigenous plant species distributed across northern Australia. The laboratory accession (LAB) of has become widely adopted as a model host for plant viruses, and it is distinct from other accessions morphologically, physiologically, and by having an attenuation-of-function mutation in the RNA-dependent RNA polymerase 1 () gene, referred to as . Recent historical evidence suggested LAB was derived from a 1936 collection by John Cleland at The Granites of the Northern Territory, although no scientific evidence was provided. We provide scientific evidence and further historical evidence supporting the origin of LAB as The Granites. Analysis of a herbarium specimen of collected by Cleland in 1936 revealed that The Granites population contains plants heterozygous for the locus, having both the functional and the mutant alleles. was an important cultural asset actively utilised as the narcotic (chewing tobacco) by the Warlpiri Aboriginal people at the site, who prevented women of child-bearing age from consuming it. We propose that Aboriginal people selected some of the unique traits of LAB that have subsequently facilitated its adoption as a model plant, such as lack of seed dormancy, fast maturity, low nornicotine content, and gracility.