Nevertheless,
How coincidence 8 million years:
Imagine a world without fries, without puree, without gratin dauphinois. For example, Difficult to design, right? However. In addition, the potato, this tuber has become essential for our global diet, might not exist without a fortuitous event that occurred in the Andean mountains almost 9 million years ago. Therefore, Researchers have just unraveling one of the most tenacious mysteries of vegetable evolution: how was the potato born? In addition, The answer upsets our understanding of this plant which now feeds billions of people.
An evolutionary enigma finally resolved – How coincidence 8 million years
For decades, botanists have encountered an evolutionary puzzle. However, How do three plant lines-tomatoes, potatoes and a mysterious family called Etuberosum-were they connected to each other? In addition, All belong to the same large family of Solanaceae, but their exact relations remained unclear.
Sandra Knapp. However, botanist how coincidence 8 million years at the Natural History Museum in London, and her international team used revolutionary genomic tools to analyze DNA of 128 plants from these three lines. Similarly, Their discovery is striking: the modern potato is not a species that has evolved alone. Nevertheless, but the result of hybridization between the ancestors of wild tomatoes and those of the Etuberosum.
A miraculous crossroads in the primitive Andes – How coincidence 8 million years
8 to 9 million years ago, the Andes Cordillera knew an intense geological uprising. In this landscape in transformation, two distinct plant species met by chance. Their ancestors certainly shared a distant common cousin. disappeared 13 to 14 million years earlier, but they had since borrowed separate evolutionary paths.
However, they retained enough genetic compatibility to reproduce together. From this improbable union was born a revolutionary hybrid: the ancestor of our current potatoes. The genomic analysis today reveals this how coincidence 8 million years mixed kinship in the form of “mosaic” patterns. where the DNA of the Petota line (the potatoes) harmoniously mixes the inheritances of its two parents.
The innovation that has changed everything: the tuber
The real feat of this hybridization lies in the emergence. of a completely unprecedented capacity: the formation of tubers. Neither the tomatoes nor the etuberosum had these swollen underground organs, capable of storing water and nutrients in abundance.
The researchers identified the molecular actors of this biological revolution. The SP6A gene, inherited from the line of tomatoes, has transformed in potatoes to orchestrate the tuberization process. For its part, the IT1 gene, transmitted by the Etuberosum, also participates in the formation of these precious underground reserves.
A decisive advantage in a hostile world
This genetic innovation fell timely. The Andes then underwent drastic climatic transformations, how coincidence 8 million years becoming colder and more arid. Where parental plants struggled to survive, the new hybrids with tubers were prospected.
These storage bodies gave them exceptional resistance to extreme conditions. They could now colonize so far inaccessible territories. spread in virgin ecological niches and, above all, evolve in all independence from their ancestors.
Credit: ISTOCK
Credits: Jens_Lambert_Photography/Istock
From genetic accident to universal food
This adaptability has triggered an explosion of diversity. Today, there are 107 species of wild potatoes, witnesses to this extraordinary evolutionary radiation. Among them, Solanum Tuberosum – Our cultivated potato – conquered how coincidence 8 million years the whole world.
Sanwen Huang. co-author of the study and specialist in agricultural genomics, underlines the importance of this discovery: ” We have finally resolved the mystery of the origin of potatoes and shown how hybridization can trigger the evolution of completely new characters. »
A precious genetic heritage
This research, published in the prestigious review Cell, is not content to satisfy our scientific curiosity. It opens up concrete perspectives for improving cultures. Understanding the genetic mechanisms that have enabled the emergence of tubers could help agronomists develop even more resistant. nutritious varieties.
The history of potatoes reminds us that the greatest innovations of nature are sometimes born from the purest chance. A simple crossroads, millions of years ago, created one of the pillars of our global food security. A lesson in humility in the face of the mysteries of evolution.
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