Masters Candidate
BSc - Otago University, New Zealand
Graduate Diploma (Botany) - Otago University, New Zealand
Research Interest: Palms: The coconut (Cocos nucifera) and its closest relatives, its dispersal and origin.
Palms are distant relatives of grasses and are also very useful to man. The coconut (Cocos nucifera), a very well known member of the palm family has been dubbed "the milk bottle at the doorstep of humanity" by J.W. Purseglove. It is one of the earliest plants domesticated by man and accompanied the seafaring Austronesians on their conquest of the Pacific. The very hard shell is an ideal "bottle" to house the juice and its thick white flesh inside the shell is used to produce the coconut milk - a delicious food source; rich in oils, proteins, fats, carbohydrates, fibres and minerals nature's nurturing food. Some of the uneaten coconuts carried by the early Austronesians many of which may have already sprouted from their husks--were planted in settlements. There, after several years these palms grew to heights of 20-30m with trunks of up to 0.6m diameter, terminating in a green crown of pinnately divided leaves. They eventually bore bunches of coconuts. Accounts from Columbus' voyage to the Americas (1492) reported sighting coconuts on the Pacific coast of Panama, but not along the Atlantic coast.
The early domestication of the coconut has posed several questions regarding its relatives, origin and dispersal. It is against this backdrop, that I have been formulating a Masters thesis. The question of the relatives of the coconut is most interesting and forms one of the major focus areas of my thesis. Historically, 60 palms have been called Cocos because they shared similar features such as flowers and young fruits but the most recent classification made Cocos nucifera the only species in the genus Cocos. The coconut is one of the most common palms found in the tropics. The other relatives are found in South America (6 genera, 46 species), Chile (1/1), South Africa (1/1) and Madagascar (1/1).
I have been working on different genes of this group of palms in order to determine what genetic similarities they share with one another. Using this data, a family tree showing the relationships of the coconut to the rest of the group can be constructed. This family relationship tree can then be used to unravel the biogeographical questions relating to the origin and dispersal of the coconut. Morphological studies will also be undertaken using herbarium specimens at the Missouri Botanical Garden, in an attempt to understand the evolution of the hard shell of the fruits belonging to this group.
Current Lab Activity:
The waxy gene is found in the nuclei of plant cells. It is involved in the coding for the binding of starch granules and is responsible for the waxy appearance of plants. This gene has been selected for use in this project because work by other researchers have found that it is a useful genetic region to look at, especially for grasses because it can show variation for different species. The process of obtaining a useable amount of the waxy gene involves cloning it into a bacteria, and then amplifying the amount via PCR. This DNA can then be sequenced to show its fundamental genetic makeup.