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Scientists Just Solved the 9-Million-Year Mystery of Where Potatoes Came From

SOUTH AMERICA, AUG 1 – The hybridization between tomato and Etuberosum species about 9 million years ago enabled potatoes to develop tubers, aiding nutrient storage and adaptation to diverse environments.

  • An international research team discovered that modern potatoes originated about nine million years ago from ancient hybridization between tomato plants and potato-like Etuberosum species in South America.
  • Scientists analyzed the DNA of 450 cultivated potatoes and 56 wild species to reveal that potatoes contain balanced genetic material from both tomatoes and Etuberosum, overturning previous beliefs they descended solely from Etuberosum.
  • The hybrid plants evolved tubers, storage organs for nutrients allowing survival in harsh mountainous environments, fueling rapid species diversification and adaptation across diverse ecological niches in Central and South America.
  • Genome biologist Sanwen Huang highlighted that tomatoes provided the crucial gene responsible for initiating tuber development in potatoes, while Etuberosum contributed a gene regulating tuber growth, together enabling the formation of tubers in early potato plants.
  • This research not only solves the potato's evolutionary mystery but suggests new breeding opportunities to create more resilient, productive potato varieties better adapted to changing environments.
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Potatoes are one of the world's most widely cultivated foods. At the same time, their origins have long been shrouded in mystery. But now a Chinese research team believes they have solved the mystery of how the modern potato came into being.

·Stockholm, Sweden
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Why when we drink ice cream or cold drinks we get the feeling that our brain hurts (and how to avoid it)Having a smartphone before age 13 compromises mental health, according to a studyThe natural crossing about 9 million years ago between a tomato ancestor and a potato-like wild plant gave rise to the modern potato, according to a study published in the magazine Cell and leading scientists from the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences.

·Lima, Peru
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Mediafax A new study published in the journal Cell shows that the current cartof could come from an event of hybridisation between wild reds and a similar plant of potatoes, now disappeared, called Etuberosum, according to Smithsonian Magazine. This crossing would have been produced after about nine million years in the Anzi Mountains, allowing the development of the tubes, the final movement of the cartosula. Genetic results from past researche…

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Folha de S.Paulo broke the news in São Paulo, Brazil on Friday, August 1, 2025.
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