Phytochemistry and Transcriptomics of açaí: a hyperdominant palm in Amazonia

Important results from the project

This project focused on studying aspects of biodiversity conservation in Amazonia. We developed two different research projects: 1) Disentangling the effects of certification of açaí agroforestry as a gateway to protect the Amazonian flora. 2) Understanding the species limits and the evolutionary history of açaí palm species. Project 1 presents baseline information for monitoring the impact of harvesting activities in açaí agroforestry systems in Amazonia. Project 2 aims to unveil the species limits within the group of açaí palms, a hyperdominant plant species in the Neotropics.

Expected long term effects

In the first research goal we identify that managed sites after 12 years of certification have a higher species richness than non-certified groves. Our results allow us to prospect for the conservation potential of açaí agroforestry to halting the exploitation of the Amazonian flora. Also, DNA extractions from 288 Euterpe leaf samples collected throughout South America are being processed in the sequencing facility. These samples will be sequenced using a Capture Seq technique and we expect to reconstruct the evolutionary history of the lineage Euterpe and revisit its species limits

Approach and implementation

To address the first aim, we conducted a forestry inventory in two hectares of long-term certified açai harvesting areas to gain further knowledge on the plant diversity and forest structure in açaí managed forests and to understand the contribution of certification towards sustainable forest management. T address the second aim, we extract high quality DNA from 288 leaf samples of seven species of Euterpe and will use the Capture-Seq sequencing technique to generate over 3000 molecular markers and perform species delimitation analysis.