title: Crop wild relatives of the brinjal eggplant (Solanum melongena): Poorly represented in genebanks and many species at risk of extinction.
abstract: Crop wild relatives (CWR) provide important traits for plant breeding, including pest, pathogen, and abiotic stress resistance. Therefore, their conservation and future availability are essential for food security. Despite this need, the world's genebanks are currently thought to conserve only a small fraction of the total diversity of CWR.
  
  
  
  We define the eggplant genepool using the results of recent taxonomic and phylogenetic studies. We identify the gaps in germplasm accessions for eggplant (Solanum melongena L.) CWR by comparing georeferenced herbarium records and germplasm accessions using a gap analysis methodology implementing species distribution models (SDM). Preliminary conservation assessments using IUCN criteria were done for all species and were combined with the gap analysis to pinpoint where under-collected and threatened CWR species coincide with high human disturbance and occur outside of protected areas.
  
  
  
  We show that many eggplant CWR are poorly represented in genebanks compared to their native ranges. Priority areas for future collecting are concentrated in Africa, especially along the Kenya-Tanzania border. Fourteen species of eggplant CWR are assessed as threatened or near-threatened; these are also concentrated in eastern Africa.
  
  
  
  The knowledge base upon which conservation of wild relative germplasm depends must take into account both taxonomic and phylogenetic advances. Beyond traditional research focus on close relatives of crops, we emphasize the benefits of defining a broad CWR genepool, and the importance of assessing threats to wild species when targeting localities for future collection of CWR to improve crop breeding in the face of environmental change.
authors.affiliation: Department of Life Sciences, Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London, SW7 5BD, UK s.knapp@nhm.ac.uk m.syfert@nhm.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Mindy M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Syfert
authors.affiliation: International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), Km 17 Recta Cali-Palmira, Cali, Colombia School of Biosciences, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham, UK.
authors.forename: Nora P
authors.initials: NP
authors.lastname: Castañeda-Álvarez
authors.affiliation: International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), Km 17 Recta Cali-Palmira, Cali, Colombia Centre for Crop Systems Analysis, Wageningen University, Droevendaalsesteeg 1, 6708 PB Wageningen, Netherlands.
authors.forename: Colin K
authors.initials: CK
authors.lastname: Khoury
authors.affiliation: Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, 20A Inverleith Row, Edinburgh EH3 5LR, UK.
authors.forename: Tiina
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Särkinen
authors.affiliation: International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), Km 17 Recta Cali-Palmira, Cali, Colombia.
authors.forename: Chrystian C
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Sosa
authors.affiliation: International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), Km 17 Recta Cali-Palmira, Cali, Colombia.
authors.forename: Harold A
authors.initials: HA
authors.lastname: Achicanoy
authors.affiliation: International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), Km 17 Recta Cali-Palmira, Cali, Colombia.
authors.forename: Vivian
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Bernau
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Conservación y Mejora de la Agrodiversidad Valenciana, Universitat Politècnica de València, Valencia, Spain.
authors.forename: Jaime
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Prohens
authors.affiliation: INRA, Unité de Genetique & Amélioration des Fruits et Legumes, UR 1052, Domaine St. Maurice, CS 60094 F-84143, Montfavet cedex, France.
authors.forename: Marie-Christine
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Daunay
authors.affiliation: Department of Life Sciences, Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London, SW7 5BD, UK s.knapp@nhm.ac.uk m.syfert@nhm.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Sandra
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Knapp
mesh_terms: D000351:Africa, Eastern; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources; D018556:Crops, Agricultural / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology*; D053476:Extinction, Biological; D005788:Gene Pool; D005843:Geography; D012306:Risk; D032323:Solanum melongena / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology*; D013045:Species Specificity
keywords: Red List assessments; Solanaceae; Solanum; agriculture; crop genepools; eggplant; food security; gap analysis; genebanks; species distribution modeling