by From Will Dunham
Washington (Reuters) -the potato is one of the staple foods in the world that for the first time spread from the 16th century in the Andden region of South America thousands of years ago. Despite their importance for humanity, the evolutionary origins of the potato have so far remained puzzling.
A new analysis of 450 genomes of cultivated potatoes and 56 genomes of wild potato species has shown that the potato line was created about 9 million years ago by natural interrupts between a wild tomato plant and a potato -like way in South America.
This hybridization event led to the appearance of the tuber of the aspiring potato plant, an enlarged structure that houses nutrients underground underground, according to the researchers, which also identified two important genes that were involved in the formation of bulb. While the edible part is the fruit in a tomato plant, it is the tuber in the potato plant.
“Potatoes are really among the most remarkable food food and combine exceptional versatility, nutritional value and cultural omnorthy in a way in which only a few crops can match,” said Sanwen Huang, a genombiologist and plant breeder at the Chinese academy of agricultural sciences and the study published on Friday in the journal cell.
“People eat potatoes with practically every cheek cheek, roast, cook, steam and roast. Although potatoes are stereotyped, potatoes offer vitamin C, potassium, fiber and resistant strength and are naturally gluten-free, low-fat and nutrient-rich calorine, added,” added Huang.
Resistant strength is a kind of carbohydrate that resists digestion in the small intestine and fermentation in the large intestine and feeds useful bacteria in the intestine.
The scientific name of the modern potato plant is solanum tuberosum. The two parents identified in the study were plants that were the ancestors of a potato -like manner that was now found in Peru called etuberosum and the potato plant is very similar, but a tuber and the tomato plant are missing.
These two plants themselves shared a common ancestor that lived about 14 million years ago and were able to mix, of course, when the random hybridization event took place five million years after the dislocation.
“This event led to a redesign of genes, so that the new descent produced tubers that made it possible for these plants to extend into the newly created cold, dry habitats in the increasing Andean chain,” said botanist Sandra Knapp of the Natural History Museum in London, co-author of the study.
This hybridization event fell together with the rapid raising of the Andes. With a tuber, the potato plant was able to adapt to the changing regional environment and thrive under the hard conditions of the mountains.
“Benefit can save and enable nutrients to adapt to cold adjustment, to counter the asexual reproduction of the challenge of reduced fertility in cold conditions. This enabled the plant to survive and quickly expand,” said Huang.
According to the researchers, the results of the study can help to lead an improved cultivated potatoes in order to manage the environmental challenges that are currently exposed to factors such as climate change.
There are currently around 5,000 types of potatoes. The potato is, according to the Peru -based research organization of the potato for rice and wheat the world’s most important food harvest for human consumption. China is the world’s leading potato producer.
“It is always difficult to remove all harmful mutations in potato icons in breeding, and this study opens a new door to make a potato free of harmful mutations that use the tomato as a chassis of synthetic biology,” said Huang.
The study can also open the door to create a new harvest type that, according to Zhiyang Zhang, a post -doctoral researcher at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, tomato fruits over the floor and potato tubers under the ground.
The potato and tomatoes are members of the nightshade family of flower plants, which also include tobacco and peppers. The study did not examine the evolutionary origins of other tuber root cultures that come from South America, such as the sweet potatoes and Yuca, which are members of various families of flowering plants.
While the parts of the tomato and potato plants that eat people are very different, the plants themselves are very similar.
“We use different parts of these two types, fruits in tomatoes and tubers in potatoes,” said Knapp. “If you look at the flowers or leaves, they are very similar. And if you are lucky enough to produce your potato plant fruit, look like small green tomatoes. But don’t eat them. They are not very nice.”
(Reporting according to Will Dunham, editing of Rosalba O’Brien)
