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MBE Advance Access published online on January 9, 2006
Molecular Biology and Evolution, doi:10.1093/molbev/msj092
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© The Author 2006. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org
Accepted December 12, 2005

Research Article

Reconstructing the Origins and Dispersal of the Polynesian Bottle Gourd (Lagenaria siceraria)

Andrew C. Clarke 1 *, Michael K. Burtenshaw 2, Patricia A. McLenachan 1, David L. Erickson 3, and David Penny 1

1 Allan Wilson Centre for Molecular Ecology and Evolution, Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand; Institute of Molecular BioSciences, Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand
2 Natural Resources Centre, The Open Polytechnic of New Zealand, Lower Hutt, New Zealand
3 Laboratories of Analytical Biology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
Andrew C. Clarke, E-mail: A.C.Clarke{at}massey.ac.nz


  Abstract

The origin of the Polynesian bottle gourd (Lagenaria siceraria), an important crop species in prehistoric Polynesia, has remained elusive. Most recently a South American origin has been favored, as the bottle gourd could have been introduced from this continent with the sweet potato by Polynesian voyagers around A.D. 1000. To test the hypothesis of an American origin for the Polynesian bottle gourd we developed seven markers specific to bottle gourd (two chloroplast and five nuclear). The nuclear markers were developed using a new technique where polymorphic Inter Simple Sequence Repeat (ISSR) markers are converted into single-locus PCR and sequencing markers - an approach that will be useful for developing markers in other taxa. All seven markers were sequenced in 36 cultivars of bottle gourd from Asia, the Americas and Polynesia. The results support a dual origin for the Polynesian bottle gourd: the chloroplast markers are exclusively of Asian origin but the nuclear markers show alleles originating in both the Americas and Asia. Because hybridization of Polynesian bottle gourds with post-European introductions cannot be excluded, ancient DNA from archaeological material will be useful for further elucidating the prehistoric movements of this species in Polynesia. This work has implications not only for the dispersal of the Polynesian bottle gourd, but for the domestication and dispersal of the species as a whole.

Keywords: Lagenaria siceraria; bottle gourd; Polynesia; human migration; crop domestication; ISSR; SCAR markers.
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