There are more of them A hundred ways to prepare a potato, and thousands of stories began with the intake of a distilled vodka from this tuber. For centuries, potato has played a key role in feeding the growing population of the world. According to one testThe introduction of potatoes from America constituted about a quarter of the population growth in the elderly world in the years 1700–1900.
Now science reveals the surprising origin of vegetables: it appeared 9 million years ago as a result of extraordinary hybridization between the ancestor of the tomato and the old plant in South America. This revelation prescribes the evolutionary history of one of the most common food in the world, and also explains how a basic tuber has become the basis of a global diet.
Scientists from the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences have so far conducted the most extensive genomic analysis on a domesticated potato. They studied cultivated varieties with 44 wild species, conducting unprecedented genetic sequencing. The results revealed a stable mixture of genetic material between Potato (conventional potato) and ancestor Solanum lycopersicum (tomato).
The discovery suggests that the potatoes we know them Brine-The hints related to the eubberosum family, which until then did not produce tubers. The results were published in the journal Cell.
Both potato and tomato have a common ancestor who lived about 13 million years ago. Four million years later their descendants successfully merged. A novel plant emerged from this relationship with the possibility of creating tubers: subway structures that store energy in the form of carbohydrates and allow reproduction without the need for seeds or pollination. This biological innovation has facilitated the expansion of the first potatoes to regions of various climates, from heated to chilly environments.
The study also identifies the disclosure of genetic details. The SP6A gene, considered a “switch”, which determines whether the plant develops tubers, comes from tomato. On the other hand, the IT1 gene, which regulates the growth of subway stalks, which form an edible tuber, comes from the plants of the Eububerosum family, originating from South America.
Considering the chronology of hybridization and geolocation of involved species, scientists proposed a hypothesis about the origin of potato. During Miocene, from 10 to 6 million years ago, the sudden geological raising of the Andes, driven by a collision of two tectonic plates, generated novel chilly climate regions. Scientists believe that this geological change forced plants to adapt to survival and extension, and two of them joined to form PotatoWhich millions of years later would end in accompanying Hamburg in the form of fries.
This story originally appeared Wired in Spanish and was translated from Spanish.