A number of Panamanians love the sweet purple pulp of the caimito fruit, and in some areas, gardens aren't complete without the beautiful Chrysophyllum cainito fruit tree. Through the process of sharing seeds from the biggest, sweetest, and softest fruits, people have been changing the gene pool of these trees for centuries.

At the same time, wild populations of caimito trees are natural to tropical forests in Panama. The wild fruit of caimito is greenishpink and the size of a grape; their cultivated cousins are deep purple, and the size of an orange. Wild fruits are tougher, full of latex, and have small seeds.

Ingrid Parker, professor at the University of California doing research at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama, studies how the different traits of caimito fruits influence the survival and success of caimito in the wild.

Using wild and cultivated fruits in field experiments, Parker aims to unravel how humans have influenced the evolution of the caimito tree, and how this traditional "genetic engineering" might affect the future of wild populations.



Posted by: Erica    Source