Science Reveals the Surprising Origins of the Potato
There are more than a hundred ways to prepare a potato, and thousands of stories have begun with a shot of vodka distilled from this tuber. For centuries, the potato has been instrumental in feeding the world’s growing population. According to one study, the introduction of the potato from the Americas accounted for about a quarter of the population growth in the Old World between 1700 and 1900.
Now, science reveals the vegetable’s surprising origins: It emerged 9 million years ago as a result of an unusual hybridization between an ancestor of the tomato and an ancient South American plant. This revelation rewrites the evolutionary history of one of the world’s most widely consumed foods and also explains how a simple tuber became a mainstay of the global diet.
Researchers at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences conducted the most extensive genomic analysis to date on the domesticated potato. They studied cultivated varieties along with 44 wild species, conducting unprecedented genetic sequencing. The results revealed a stable mixture of genetic material between Solanum tuberosum (the traditional potato) and an ancestor of Solanum lycopersicum (the tomato).
