Students

Photo (c) IRD - L Emperaire

Current research

Rainforests in Southeast Asia harbour a great diversity of edible fruits. One of the most highly regarded is mangosteen (Garcinia mangostana), dubbed as the queen of fruits for its exquisite taste and aesthetic appearance. Intrigued by how domesticated mangosteen arose from the wild ancestor, especially against the backdrop of contradictory theories of origin, I will study the genetic diversity of the wild species closely related to mangosteen with two aims: (i) to clarify the genetic relationship between and within the closely related wild species and (ii) to elucidate the origin of domesticated mangosteen. Also, genetic diversity in wild species are under immense pressure of substantial erosion from land use and climate changes. Species distribution models (SDM) of wild relatives will be constructed using identified genotypes from population genetic studies and global climate data. The findings from SDM would inform the effort of safeguarding the wild relatives genetic diversity through conservation strategy and sustainable use management. This is collaboration project between Agropolis, Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) and Bioversity International, and my studentship is co-funded by Agropolis, UPM and Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA).