Synchrotron light used to show human domestication of seeds from 2,000 BC
Scientists from UCL have used the UK's synchrotron facility, Diamond Light Source, to document for the first time the rate of evolution of seed coat thinning, a major marker of crop domestication, from archaeological remains. A slice through image of horsegram seed [Credit: Diamond Light Source] Writing in the journal Scientific Reports , the authors present evidence for seed coat thinning between 2,000 BC and 1,200 BC in the legume horsegram (Macrotyloma uniflorum), a bean commonly eaten in southern India. By using the high-resolution X-ray computed tomography (HRXCT) technique on Diamond's I13-2 beamline, the researchers were able to measure for the first time the coat thickness throughout the entire seed. "Seed coat thickness is a great indicator of domestication, as thinner coats will mean faster germination of a seed when it is watered," explains Dorian Fuller, co-author on the paper. "But conventional methods of looking at the seed coat require breaking and