Science is Fun Fridays!


New research reveals that the modern potato evolved from a fling with a wild tomato over 9 million years ago.

Evolutionary biologists and genomic scientists analyzed 450 genomes from cultivated and wild potato species and they were able to trace it back to an ancient ancestor.

The original Etuberosum and the tomato did not grow tubers - but the resulting hybrid plant did.

Coming from the Andes mountains, the tuber was an innovative way for the potato to store nutrients underground as the climate became colder.

Potatoes were domesticated some 10,000 years ago, becoming a key crop the world depends on.




 

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