title: Evolution and history of grapevine (Vitis vinifera) under domestication: new morphometric perspectives to understand seed domestication syndrome and reveal origins of ancient European cultivars.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  In spite of the abundance of archaeological, bio-archaeological, historical and genetic data, the origins, historical biogeography, identity of ancient grapevine cultivars and mechanisms of domestication are still largely unknown. Here, analysis of variation in seed morphology aims to provide accurate criteria for the discrimination between wild grapes and modern cultivars and to understand changes in functional traits in relation to the domestication process. This approach is also used to quantify the phenotypic diversity in the wild and cultivated compartments and to provide a starting point for comparing well-preserved archaeological material, in order to elucidate the history of grapevine varieties.
  
  
  METHODS
  Geometrical analysis (elliptic Fourier transform method) was applied to grapevine seed outlines from modern wild individuals, cultivars and well-preserved archaeological material from southern France, dating back to the first to second centuries.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Significant relationships between seed shape and taxonomic status, geographical origin (country or region) of accessions and parentage of varieties are highlighted, as previously noted based on genetic approaches. The combination of the analysis of modern reference material and well-preserved archaeological seeds provides original data about the history of ancient cultivated forms, some of them morphologically close to the current 'Clairette' and 'Mondeuse blanche' cultivars. Archaeobiological records seem to confirm the complexity of human contact, exchanges and migrations which spread grapevine cultivation in Europe and in Mediterranean areas, and argue in favour of the existence of local domestication in the Languedoc (southern France) region during Antiquity.
authors.affiliation: Centre de Bio-Archéologie et d'Ecologie, Equipe Ressources Biologiques, Sociétés, Biodiversité-UMR 5059 CNRS/UM2/EPHE, Institut de Botanique (Université Montpellier 2), 163 Rue Auguste Broussonet, 34090 Montpellier, France. terral@univ-montp2.fr
authors.forename: Jean-Frédéric
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Terral
authors.forename: Elidie
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Tabard
authors.forename: Laurent
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Bouby
authors.forename: Sarah
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ivorra
authors.forename: Thierry
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Pastor
authors.forename: Isabel
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Figueiral
authors.forename: Sandrine
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Picq
authors.forename: Jean-Baptiste
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Chevance
authors.forename: Cécile
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Jung
authors.forename: Laurent
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Fabre
authors.forename: Christophe
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Tardy
authors.forename: Michel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Compan
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bacilieri
authors.forename: Thierry
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Lacombe
authors.forename: Patrice
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: This
mesh_terms: D005075:Biological Evolution; D005060:Europe; D005583:Fourier Analysis; D012639:Seeds / Q000502:physiology*; D027843:Vitis / Q000196:embryology / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*