Sky News Network
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
  • Politics
  • Business
  • National
  • Culture
  • Science & Technology
  • Opinion
  • Sports
No Result
View All Result
Sky News Network
No Result
View All Result
Home Science & Technology

Here’s where watermelons actually came from

skynewsbyskynews
May 29, 2021
in Science & Technology
0
Here’s where watermelons actually came from
0
SHARES
307
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterWhatsapp

Using DNA from greenhouse-grown plants representing all species and hundreds of varieties of watermelon, scientists have discovered that watermelons most likely came from wild crop progenitors in northeast Africa.

A new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences corrects a 90-year-old mistake that lumped watermelons into the same category as the South African citron melon. Instead, researchers, including a first author now at Washington University in St. Louis, found that a Sudanese form with non-bitter whitish pulp, known as the Kordofan melon (C. lanatus), is the closest relative of domesticated watermelons.

The genetic research is consistent with newly interpreted Egyptian tomb paintings that suggest the watermelon may have been consumed in the Nile Valley as a dessert more than 4,000 years ago.

“Based on DNA, we found that watermelons as we know them today — with sweet, often red pulp that can be eaten raw — were genetically closest to wild forms from west Africa and northeast Africa,” said Susanne S. Renner, honorary professor of biology in Arts & Sciences at Washington University.

Renner is an evolutionary biologist who recently joined Washington University after 17 years working as a professor at Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich, Germany, where she also served as the director of the Munich Botanical Garden and Munich herbarium.

Her lab has long focused on honey melons and cucumbers, but for the past 10 years she has turned to watermelons and bitter gourds.

The genetic information published in the new study — completed with colleagues from the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Ithaca, New York; the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew in London; and the University of Sheffield — could be useful for developing a more disease-resistant watermelon crop, Renner said.

“Today’s watermelon comes from a very small genetic stock and is highly susceptible to diseases and insect pests, including various mildews, other fungi, viruses, and nematodes [worms],” Renner said. “So far, we found variation in three disease resistance genes between the Kordofan melon and the domesticated watermelon. Breeders might use these and other insights from the genome.”

But some of the greatest takeaways from this study, Renner said, are related to the mobility of people and their cultural connections.

“It was the Egyptian tomb paintings that convinced me that the Egyptians were eating cold watermelon pulp,” Renner said. “Otherwise, why place those huge fruits on flat trays next to grapes and other sweet fruits?”

“Melons, cucumbers, and watermelons were domesticated several times” across human history, she said. “But to place these domestications in space and name is much more difficult than I thought 10 to 15 years ago. DNA from ancient seeds is already beginning to help.”

Authored by Washington University in St. Louis

 

Source: Scitechdaily.com
Tags: watermelon
Plugin Install : Subscribe Push Notification need OneSignal plugin to be installed.
skynews

skynews

Related Posts

Uganda, Kenya tech startups to battle other African giants for continental awards
Science & Technology

Uganda, Kenya tech startups to battle other African giants for continental awards

May 10, 2022
New science shows you can become younger by 30 years
Science & Technology

New science shows you can become younger by 30 years

May 5, 2022
Antibiotics diminish babies’ immune response to key vaccines
Science & Technology

Antibiotics diminish babies’ immune response to key vaccines

May 5, 2022

Popular Stories

  • How corruption has eaten up Uganda’s water corporation

    How corruption has eaten up Uganda’s water corporation

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Uganda’s water boss lined up for sacking as wife shames minister in party elections

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • NWSC Board probes Silver Mugisha as Museveni unleashes intelligence on water ministry

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Assassinations: who is spilling blood in Uganda, and why?

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • How Ugandan brokers sealed Museveni, Ruto deal throwing Kenyatta, Odinga into chaos

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0

Archives

About Us

We are the leading online news publication in Uganda with authentic and reliable news.

LEARN MORE »

Recent News

  • Kenya, Uganda resolve fuel dispute May 10, 2022
  • Uganda, Kenya tech startups to battle other African giants for continental awards May 10, 2022
  • New science shows you can become younger by 30 years May 5, 2022

Quick Links

  • About us
  • Advertise
  • Careers
  • Contact Us

Address

UJA House, Bombo Rd,

Keti Falawo Zone, Kawempe Division

Kampala – Uganda

© 2020 – Sky News Network

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Politics
  • News
  • Business
  • National
  • Sports
  • Science & Technology
  • Agriculture & African Medicine
  • Travel
  • Opinion

© 2020 Sky News Uganda

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.