Project number: 23-07403S
Project title: Worldwide phylogeography and history of the globally invasive weed species Chenopodium album
Provider: GAČR Czech Science Foundation
Programme: GAČR Standard Project 2023 ?
Project coordinator: CZU
Researcher: prof. Mgr. Bohumil Mandák, Ph.D.
Contact person: Michaela Kopřivová Stejskalová
Project schedule: 2023-2025
Budget: 9 999 000 CZK
Abstract:
Agricultural weeds compose a unique evolutionary state, neither wild nor domesticated, that has developed in parallel to crop domestication. One of the main representatives of weedy species worldwide is Chenopodium album s. str., an aggressive weed of many crop plantations. As a typical weed species, its distribution is put into relationship with the first Neolithic agriculturalists colonisation of the European continent. We would like to provide insights into the worldwide phylogeography of the species, describing its history and migration dynamics and disentangling current and past processes underlying spectacular success over the globe by restriction– associated DNA sequencing analysis (RADseq). We will test two hypotheses: (1) the spread of C. album s. str. followed the spread of agriculture and bread wheat cultivation; and (2) there is no single wave of the C. album s. str. invasion, instead different time periods are characterised by different genetic lineages, most probably related to farming practices.