As autumn looms, we're enjoying the last bites of sweet, juicy watermelon.
Conventional agriculture has molded our fruits and veggies to suit our palates, gradually crafting domesticated Citrullus lanatus from three ancestral melon species. But the process may have also removed valuable traits.
Researchers at the Boyce Thompson Institute in Ithaca, New York, have analyzed genomes of watermelon and its ancestors, revealing traits that early breeders may have inadvertently removed in their quest to maximize the red, sweet, watery flesh of the fruit. Their report appears in Plant Biotechnology Journal.
To continue reading, go to DNA Science, where this post first appeared.