Northwestern biologists lead study tracing the DNA of Caribbean breadfruit

In 1793, Captain William Bligh arrived in Kingstown, St. Vincent and the Grenadines with cargo filled with several hundred sapling breadfruit trees aboard the HMS Providence. His goal was to introduce the long-lived trees, which produce carbohydrate-rich fruits, as a cheap source of food for Britain’s enslaved population, who worked on the island’s sugar plantations.

230 years later, a team of plant biologists led by Northwestern University, the Chicago Botanic Garden, and the St. Vincent Botanical Gardens has, for the first time, traced the lineage of five major varieties of Caribbean breadfruit back to that single introduction by Bligh.

The study, published on January 5th, the 230th anniversary of Bligh’s arrival in the Caribbean, in the journal Current Biology, found that not only have the original breadfruit tree cultivars survived for centuries, but they are also thriving.

“Breadfruit is an underutilized crop, and it doesn’t get nearly as much attention as the major crops,” said Nyree Zerega, the study’s senior author. “However, interest in breadfruit is increasing globally, and we thought this would be a fascinating puzzle to solve.”

Zerega is currently the Director of Program in Plant Biology and Conservation at Northwestern’s Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences. Her research includes evolution, systematics, biogeography, and reproductive ecology of plants (especially Moraceae).

Learn more in Northwestern Now’s article, “Caribbean breadfruit traced back to Capt. Bligh’s 1791-93 journey.”