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Resequencing of 414 cultivated and wild watermelon accessions identifies selection for fruit quality traits
- Source :
- Nature Genetics. 51:1616-1623
- Publication Year :
- 2019
- Publisher :
- Springer Science and Business Media LLC, 2019.
-
Abstract
- Fruit characteristics of sweet watermelon are largely the result of human selection. Here we report an improved watermelon reference genome and whole-genome resequencing of 414 accessions representing all extant species in theCitrullusgenus. Population genomic analyses reveal the evolutionary history ofCitrullus, suggesting independent evolutions inCitrullus amarusand the lineage containingCitrullus lanatusandCitrullus mucosospermus. Our findings indicate that different loci affecting watermelon fruit size have been under selection during speciation, domestication and improvement. A non-bitter allele, arising in the progenitor of sweet watermelon, is largely fixed inC. lanatus. Selection for flesh sweetness started in the progenitor ofC. lanatusand continues through modern breeding on loci controlling raffinose catabolism and sugar transport. Fruit flesh coloration and sugar accumulation might have co-evolved through shared genetic components including a sugar transporter gene. This study provides valuable genomic resources and sheds light on watermelon speciation and breeding history.
- Subjects :
- 2. Zero hunger
0106 biological sciences
0301 basic medicine
education.field_of_study
Citrullus lanatus
Population
Biology
biology.organism_classification
01 natural sciences
03 medical and health sciences
030104 developmental biology
Genetic Speciation
Botany
Genetic variation
Genetics
Sugar transporter
education
Domestication
Sugar
Citrullus
010606 plant biology & botany
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 15461718 and 10614036
- Volume :
- 51
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Nature Genetics
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi...........e10e4b2474f84a0fb2805f36d44c48bd