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Parallel Evolution Under Domestication and Phenotypic Differentiation of the Cultivated Subspecies of Cucurbita pepo (Cucurbitaceae)

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Parallel Evolution under Domestication and Phenotypic Differentiation of the Cultivated Subspecies of Cucurbita pepo (Cucurbitaceae). Cucurbita pepo (pumpkin, squash, gourd, Cucurbitaceae) is an ancient North American domesticate of considerable economic importance. Based on molecular genetic polymorphisms, two cultivated lineages of this species, each consisting of very many edible–fruited cultigens, have been recognized, C. pepo subsp. pepo and C. pepo subsp. texana. However, the phenotypic commonalities and differences between these two subspecies have not as yet been systematically collected and organized. Among the evolutionary developments common to the two subspecies are the increased size of the plant parts, less plant branching, and premature loss of chlorophyll in the exocarp of the fruits. In both subspecies, bush growth habit, conferred by allele Bu, is common to the cultigens grown for consumption of the immature fruits, as is the deviation from the 1:1 ratio of fruit length to fruit width. A major characteristic differentiating between the edible–fruited cultigens of the respective subspecies are the longitudinal protrusions, in subsp. pepo, versus depressions, in subsp. texana, of the fruit surface corresponding with the subsurface primary carpellary vein tracts. Subsp. pepo also has larger fruits and larger and longer seeds. In addition, some alleles affecting stem color, leaf mottling, multiple flower bud production, and fruit characteristics are frequently occurring to nearly fixed in one subspecies but are rare to less common in the other.

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Acknowledgments

Ales Lebeda and Eva Křistkova gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the Ministry of Education, Youth, and Sports of the Czech Republic, project MSM 6198959215.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Vegetable Crops and Plant Genetics, Agricultural Research Organization, Newe Ya‘ar Research Center, Ramat Yishay, Israel

    Harry S. Paris

  2. Department of Botany, Faculty of Science, Palacký University in Olomouc, Šlechtitelů, Czech Republic

    Ales Lebeda & Eva Křistkova

  3. The Cucurbit Network, Bronx, NY, USA

    Thomas C. Andres

  4. Institute of Systematic Botany, New York Botanical Garden, Bronx, NY, USA

    Michael H. Nee

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  1. Harry S. Paris
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  2. Ales Lebeda
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Correspondence to Harry S. Paris.

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Submitted 6 September 2011; Accepted 19 October 2011.

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Paris, H.S., Lebeda, A., Křistkova, E. et al. Parallel Evolution Under Domestication and Phenotypic Differentiation of the Cultivated Subspecies of Cucurbita pepo (Cucurbitaceae). Econ Bot 66, 71–90 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12231-012-9186-3

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