Doctoral Dissertation Research: Evaluation of a New Hypothesis about Plant Domestication.

This doctoral dissertation award focuses on the "Goosefoot" plant, a crop which was domesticated at least 3,500 years ago, but is now extinct. This project analyzes ancient goosefoot seeds which were recovered from archaeological sites. The student will also study current day modern wild populations of the species. This research addresses not only locally specific questions about the original domestication process, but also serves as a case study for assessing how annual plants that exhibit plasticity (flexibility in growth and development) are domesticated. Recently, there have been discussions about the possibility of bringing goosefoot back as a crop or using it to genetically fortify quinoa, which could lead to a new variety of plants resilient to climate change challenges. At a theoretical level multi-disciplinary analysis will speak to broader disciplines concerned with plant domestication and evolutionary theory. New findings about the variability of seeds produced by modern, wild goosefoot populations complicates current theories about goosefoot domestication. Recent research establishes that variability in seed coat thickness of wild goosefoot is more common than previously assumed, and this is a key trait for understanding domestication of annual seed crops. This project is reframing the current narrative of goosefoot domestication by reanalyzing ancient goosefoot assemblages using the framework of adaptive transgenerational plasticity: the idea that parent plants can shape characteristics of their seeds in response to the environment, providing them with better odds of survival. The researchers are also studying the size and shape of ancient goosefoot seeds from several regions to understand if there were distinct local varieties of goosefoot in ancient times. They examine the size and shape of modern, wild goosefoot seeds for comparison, and collect seeds for future growth experiments. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.