Stable population structure in Europe since the Iron Age, despite high mobility

Ancient DNA research in the past decade has revealed that European population structure changed dramatically in the prehistoric period (14,000–3000 years before present, YBP), reflecting the widespread introduction of Neolithic farmer and Bronze Age Steppe ancestries. However, little is known about how population structure changed from the historical period onward (3000 YBP - present). To address this, we collected whole genomes from 204 individuals from Europe and the Mediterranean, many of which are the first historical period genomes from their region (e.g. Armenia and France). We found that most regions show remarkable inter-individual heterogeneity. At least 7% of historical individuals carry ancestry uncommon in the region where they were sampled, some indicating cross-Mediterranean contacts. Despite this high level of mobility, overall population structure across western Eurasia is relatively stable through the historical period up to the present, mirroring geography. We show that, under standard population genetics models with local panmixia, the observed level of dispersal would lead to a collapse of population structure. Persistent population structure thus suggests a lower effective migration rate than indicated by the observed dispersal. We hypothesize that this phenomenon can be explained by extensive transient dispersal arising from drastically improved transportation networks and the Roman Empire’s mobilization of people for trade, labor, and military. This work highlights the utility of ancient DNA in elucidating finer scale human population dynamics in recent history

Identification of faba bean sources for herbicide resistance

Trabajo presentado en la Third International Legume Society Conference ILS3 2019 (Legumes for human and planet health), celebrada en Poznan (Polonia) del 21 al 24 de mayo de 2019.Faba bean (Vicia faba L.) is a grain legume grown in many countries for its importance as a source of protein for food and feed and as a source of Nitrogen (N) for the succeeding crop. Even though it is proved that the inclu-sion of faba bean in the cropping systems may contribute to their sustainability. The cultivation of this crop has de-clined in the past years due to its susceptibility to various biotic and abiotic stresses. Among them, weeds are a major constraint due to being a poor weed competitor during the early stages of crop cycle. A few herbicides are avail-able but all present limitations of selectivity, critical time of application. Furthermore, options for post-emergence broadleaf weed control are limited. Therefore, the deploy-ment of herbicide resistance in faba bean is most desirable for weed management. The purpose of this research work was to identify sources of resistance to two post-emergence herbicides in faba bean germplasm for further use in the breeding programs.This research has been supported by Arab fund for development Operationalization, Growth of Established Regional Agricultural Research Centers in Five Arab Countries and CRP-Grain Legume from 2012-2016 and by the collaborative program I-Coop program CSIC Spain.Peer reviewe

Stable population structure in Europe since the Iron Age, despite high mobility

International audienceAncient DNA research in the past decade has revealed that European populationstructure changed dramatically in the prehistoric period (14,000–3000 years before present, YBP),reflecting the widespread introduction of Neolithic farmer and Bronze Age Steppe ancestries.However, little is known about how population structure changed from the historical period onward(3000 YBP - present). To address this, we collected whole genomes from 204 individuals fromEurope and the Mediterranean, many of which are the first historical period genomes from theirregion (e.g. Armenia and France). We found that most regions show remarkable inter-individualheterogeneity. At least 7% of historical individuals carry ancestry uncommon in the region wherethey were sampled, some indicating cross-Mediterranean contacts. Despite this high level ofmobility, overall population structure across western Eurasia is relatively stable through the historicalperiod up to the present, mirroring geography. We show that, under standard population geneticsmodels with local panmixia, the observed level of dispersal would lead to a collapse of populationstructure. Persistent population structure thus suggests a lower effective migration rate than indi-cated by the observed dispersal. We hypothesize that this phenomenon can be explained by exten-sive transient dispersal arising from drastically improved transportation networks and the RomanEmpire’s mobilization of people for trade, labor, and military. This work highlights the utility ofancient DNA in elucidating finer scale human population dynamics in recent history