Chili Pepper: Origin of Domesticated Pepper Traced To Central-East Mexico

 Researchers have traced the origin of domesticated pepper to Mexico. Chili peppers rank as the most widely grown spice crop.

Researchers at the University of California, Davis pull down previous claims that chili peppers originated in South America and suggest that it is Central-east Mexico that gave birth to domesticated peppers. 

Results of the study led by plant scientists are based on the investigation of linguistic and ecological evidence, including traditional archaeological and genetic data. The investigation led to the regional birthplace of chili pepper. Initially, the region was limited to the Southern Puebla and northern Oaxaca and southeastern Veracruz. However, this study found that the region extends further south than previously believed. This region is not the same that marks the origin of beans and corn that were domesticated in Western Mexico. 

Over the recent years, the researchers have been focusing on crop domestication, the process of selectively breeding wild plant or animal species.

"Identifying the origin of the chili pepper is not just an academic exercise," said UC Davis plant scientist Paul Gepts, the study's senior author. "By tracing back the ancestry of any domesticated plant, we can better understand the genetic evolution of that species and the origin of agriculture - a major step in human evolution in different regions of the world. This information, in turn, better equips us to develop sound genetic conservation programs and increases the efficiency of breeding programs, which will be critically important as we work to deal with climate change and provide food for a rapidly increasing global population."

According to co-author Gary P.Nabhan, this is one of the first studies to incorporate an array of evidence to trace details of chili pepper, especially its origin of domestication.  Chili peppers are the only spice-crop whose early cultivators have been predicted. 

The origin of the crop was determined by studying the plant's genetic makeup in several geographic areas. Researchers also examined previously found archaeological evidence of the plant. They also looked at the historical languages of the region.

According to npr Blogs, the researchers looked at 30 ancestral languages of the region along with words for 41 different crops.  They relied on paleobiolinguistics, studying ancient languages for words that mean pepper.

All this genetic evidence clearly pointed to the northeastern Mexico as the area where chili peppers was first domesticated. 

This finding may be true as earlier researchers at Kennesaw State University discovered that ancient Mexicans used chili pepper in drinks to spice it up. This evidence was found in ancient pottery dating 400 B.C to 300 A.D. The pottery samples were unearthed from archaeological sites of Southern Mexico.

The current finding was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.