Evidence for two domestication lineages supporting a middle-eastern origin for Brassica oleracea crops from diversified kale populations

Brassica oleracea displays enormous phenotypic variation, including vegetables like cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, kohlrabi, kales etc. Its domestication has not been clarified, despite several genetic studies and investigations of ancient literature. We used 14 152 high-quality SNP markers for population genetic studies and species-tree estimation (treating morphotypes as species) using SVD-quartets coalescent-modelling of a collection of 912 globally distributed accessions representing ten morphotypes of B. oleracea, wild B. oleracea accessions and nine related C9 Brassica species. Our genealogical tree provided evidence for two domestication lineages, the leafy head lineage (LHL) and the arrested inflorescence lineage (AIL). It also showed that kales are polyphyletic with regards to B. oleracea morphotypes, which fits ancient literature describing highly diverse kale types at around 400 BC. The SVD-quartets species tree topology showed that different kale clades are sister to either the LHL or the AIL. Cabbages from the middle-east formed the first-branching cabbage-clade, supporting the hypothesis that cabbage domestication started in the middle-east, which is confirmed by archeological evidence and historic writings. We hypothesize that cabbages and cauliflowers stem from kales introduced from Western Europe to the middle-east, possibly transported with the tin-trade routes in the Bronze age, to be re-introduced later into Europe. Cauliflower is the least diverse morphotype showing strong genetic differentiation with other morphotypes except broccoli, suggesting a strong genetic bottleneck. Genetic diversity reduced from landraces to modern hybrids for almost all morphotypes. This comprehensive Brassica C-group germplasm collection provides valuable genetic resources and a sound basis for B. oleracea breeding.

Automated summary

This study revealed two domestication lineages of Brassica oleracea, namely the leafy head lineage (LHL) and the arrested inflorescence lineage (AIL), through population genetic studies and species-tree estimation. The study also found that kales are polyphyletic and cabbages may have originated in the middle-east. Cauliflower showed the least diversity and strong genetic differentiation from other morphotypes except broccoli.