Comparisons of Commercial, Local, Wild, and Ancient Avocado Genomes

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2025: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Avocados are a globally important fruit, crucial to the diets of urban and indigenous groups alike. Despite their utility, the origin of domesticated avocados is still largely a mystery. To better understand when, where, and how a wild plant species fell under domestication, geneticists must examine that species from the perspectives of commercial, traditional, and ancient cultivar genomes alongside those of the wild progenitor. From 2023-24 we sequenced the genomes of 35 Nicaraguan and 16 Southern Mexican rural cultivars, and one ~1.7ka cultivar from El Gigante, Honduras. Local cultivars were collected from commercial farms, house gardens, or traditional corn and coffee fields. We mainly seek to determine if the El Gigante genome shows traces of origin from Southern Mexico, contained in the geographic origins of the Guatemalan domesticated ecotype, or from Nicaragua, contained in the origins of the Lowland ecotype. Then, we may have a better idea of the degree to which ancient societies tended to grow local wild trees or imported domesticated varieties from foreign regions. Comparisons of commercial and local cultivars will also show us the degree to which the global market has limited the genetic diversity of cultivated avocados, threatening food security.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 90th Annual Meeting, Denver, CO (2025)   •
• SAA 2025: Individual Abstracts

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 51809