Plastomes Reveal How Eggplants Became Asian
September 5, 2018 |
The history of eggplant has been obscure for a long time. Historical documents and genetic data show that eggplant was first domesticated in Asia, but most of its wild relatives are from Africa. Researchers from the Natural History Museums of London (NHM) and Finland (University of Helsinki) have now described the origin of the eggplant and its direct relatives.
The researchers sequenced the plastomes of eggplant and of 22 species directly related to the eggplant. The eggplant is a member of the genus Solanum within the nightshade family (Solanaceae). Solanum also accounts for two other globally important food crops, tomato and potato. But in contrast to these New World crops, the eggplant hails from Asia, where it was first domesticated somewhere in the region of China and India. Taxonomists only recently answered the question why many wild relatives of the cultivated eggplant are found in the savannahs of Africa.
The team found that the group containing the relatives of eggplant originated in northeastern Africa some two million years ago. Plants then dispersed both eastwards to tropical Asia and southwards to southern and western Africa. In tropical Asia, the dispersal event gave rise to a species that scientists call Solanum insanum, which is where populations of domesticated eggplant came from. What really startled the researchers was the fact that the dispersion of the group to Asia seemed to result from a single dispersal event from northern Africa to tropical Asia rather than a linear step-wise expansion from Africa to Asia.
For more details, read the press release from the University of Helsinki.
|
Biotech Updates is a weekly newsletter of ISAAA, a not-for-profit organization. It is distributed for free to over 22,000 subscribers worldwide to inform them about the key developments in biosciences, especially in biotechnology. Your support will help us in our mission to feed the world with knowledge. You can help by donating as little as $10.
-
See more articles:
-
News from Around the World
- Warming Climate to Increase Crop Losses Due to Insect Pests
- World's Top Universities Join Forces to Fight Hunger
- Farmer Leader in Ghana Shifts Support to Agri-biotech After Getting Facts
- Researchers Find New Genes in Soybean Linked to Aphid Resistance
- Brazilian Court Lifts Glyphosate Ban
- Study: 20 Years of GM Adoption in Brazil Increased Farmers' Profits, Boosted Economy, and Preserved the Environment
- Sorghum's Weed-Killing Power Transferred to Rice
- Scientists Find Molecule for Boosting Plant Growth With Less Nitrogen
- Research Sheds Light on Plant Signaling
- Plastomes Reveal How Eggplants Became Asian
-
Research Highlights
- Scientists Develop CasPER, a Method for Enzyme Modification
- Two Methods Used in Finding Capsaicinoid Candidate Genes in Hot Pepper
-
Beyond Crop Biotech
- Researchers Plan to Release Transgenic Chestnut to Save the Tree
- Opium Poppy Genome Decoded
-
Announcements
- 2018 International Conference on Biotechnology and Bioengineering (ICBB2018)
-
Plant
- Scientists Edit Gene for Plant Height in Tomato
- Cas9 and Cas12a Compared in Targeted Gene Editing in Maize
- Method for Production of Non-transgenic Gene-edited Plants, Developed for Cloned Plants
-
Read the latest: - Biotech Updates (October 2, 2024)
- Gene Editing Supplement (September 26, 2024)
- Gene Drive Supplement (February 22, 2023)
-
Subscribe to BU: - Share
- Tweet