The pineapple
genome offers new insights into the evolution of the
pineapple and of
crop plants like sorghum and rice.
Photo by Robert
Paull, University of Hawaii
(November 2, 2015) By
sequencing its genome, scientists are homing in on the genes and genetic
pathways that allow the juicy pineapple plant to thrive in water-limited
environments. The new findings, reported in the journal Nature Genetics, also
open a new window on the complicated evolutionary history of grasses like
sorghum and rice, which share a distant ancestor with pineapple.
Humans have cultivated pineapple for more than 6,000 years,
beginning in present-day southwest Brazil and northeast Paraguay. Today, more
than 85 countries produce about 25 million metric tons of pineapple fruit each
year, with a gross production value approaching $9 billion.
Plant biology
professor Ray Ming led an international team that
sequenced the
pineapple genome.
Photo by L. Brian
Stauffer
Like many plants, the ancestors of pineapple and grasses
experienced multiple doublings of their genomes. Tracking the remnants of these
"whole-genome duplications" in different plant species helps
researchers trace their shared - and independent - evolutionary histories.
"Our analysis indicates that the pineapple genome has
one fewer whole genome duplication than the grasses that share an ancestor with
pineapple, making pineapple the best comparison group for the study of cereal crop
genomes," said University of Illinois plant biology professor Ray Ming,
who led the multi-institutional pineapple genome sequencing effort. The work
uncovered evidence of two whole-genome duplications in the pineapple's history,
and validated previous findings of three such duplications in grasses.