New insight into the history of domesticated apple: secondary contribution of the European wild apple to the genome of cultivated varieties.

ABSTRACT: The apple is the most common and culturally important fruit crop of temperate areas. The elucidation of its origin and domestication history is therefore of great interest. The wild Central Asian species Malus sieversii has previously been identified as the main contributor to the genome of the cultivated apple (Malus domestica), on the basis of morphological, molecular, and historical evidence. The possible contribution of other wild species present along the Silk Route running from Asia to Western Europe remains a matter of debate, particularly with respect to the contribution of the European wild apple. We used microsatellite markers and an unprecedented large sampling of five Malus species throughout Eurasia (839 accessions from China to Spain) to show that multiple species have contri

SUBMITTER: Cornille A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3349737 | biostudies-literature | 2012

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature