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What a trove of potato genomes reveals about the humble spud

2025/4/16

Nature Podcast

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Benjamin Thompson

Craig Dent

Dan Fox

Nick Pettrichow

Richard Van Norden

Sergio Tussauds

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Sergio Tussauds: 我研究马铃薯的基因组学，特别是其四倍体特性给育种带来的挑战。土豆是四倍体，这意味着它拥有四套染色体，而不是像人类一样的两套。这使得育种非常困难，因为很难控制引入新性状的四个基因组拷贝。在过去200年中，我们主要使用相同的品种，因为育种计划效率不高。杂交不同品种的土豆很难控制后代获得的基因，难以预测最终性状。土豆是重要的粮食作物，育种改进至关重要，因为它关系到10亿人的食物供应，并且需要适应气候变化和新的疾病。我们的研究创建了一个包含多个欧洲土豆品种基因组的泛基因组，这有助于了解土豆的遗传多样性，并为育种提供帮助。通过研究10个基因组，我们捕捉到了大约85%的欧洲土豆遗传多样性。我们发现土豆品种的DNA序列差异很大，但独特的DNA序列数量很少。这表明土豆品种可能在美洲种植期间损失了大量的独特性，这与之前的假设有所不同。土豆基因组之间缺乏独特性可能使得育种更加困难。 Craig Dent: 我参与了马铃薯泛基因组项目。为了克服研究所有欧洲土豆品种（约1700种）的困难，我们研究了早期引入欧洲的土豆品种，这些品种是许多现代土豆的祖先。通过研究这些早期品种，我们可以更有效地捕捉土豆的遗传多样性。土豆的四倍体特性使得基因组测序和组装非常复杂，如同拼凑四个非常相似的拼图。但随着技术的进步，我们成功地创建了马铃薯泛基因组。利用廉价的测序技术，我们可以快速组装土豆基因组，这将有助于识别和培育具有理想性状的新品种，例如抗病性和适应气候变化的能力。我们估计，该研究未捕捉到大约15%的欧洲土豆遗传多样性，这可能包括近几十年来从美洲野生土豆中引入的DNA。我们正在努力填补这一空白。土豆基因组学研究正在快速发展，未来我们将发现更多关于土豆的遗传信息。 Benjamin Thompson: 作为一名记者，我报道了关于马铃薯泛基因组研究的最新进展。这项研究表明，通过研究相对较少的土豆品种，就可以了解大部分的欧洲土豆遗传多样性。这项研究也揭示了土豆在育种方面面临的挑战，例如其复杂的四倍体基因组结构。 Nick Pertscher-Chowe: 作为一名记者，我参与了对马铃薯泛基因组研究的报道。这项研究为土豆育种提供了新的工具和方法，有助于应对气候变化和疾病等挑战。

Deep Dive

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In this episode:

00:46 A potato pangenome

Researchers have created a ‘pangenome’ containing the genomes of multiple potato types, something they believe can help make it easier to breed and sequence new varieties. The potato's complicated genetics has made it difficult to sequence the plant's genome, but improvements in technology have allowed the team to combine sequences, allowing then to look for subtle differences in between varieties.

*Research Article: *Sun et al.)

09:57 Research Highlights

How ancient DNA analysis revealed that unusually bound medieval books are covered in sealskin, and top quarks and their antimatter counterparts are detected after nuclear smash-ups at the Large Hadron Collider.

*Research Highlight: *Mystery of medieval manuscripts revealed by ancient DNA)

*Research Highlight: *Top quarks spotted at mega-detector could reveal clues to early Universe)

12:30 The top cited twenty-first century research papers

Analysis from Nature reveals the 25 highest-cited papers published this century and explores why they are breaking records. We hear about the field that got the highest number of papers on the list, and whether any feature in the all-time top citation list.

*News Feature: *Exclusive: the most-cited papers of the twenty-first century)

*News Feature: *These are the most-cited research papers of all time)

*News Feature: *Science’s golden oldies: the decades-old research papers still heavily cited today)

21:47 Briefing Chat

Re-analysis of a cosmic collision shows evidence of a planet spiralling into its host star, and how shrugging off lighting strikes gives tonka bean trees an evolutionary edge.

*Science: *Astronomers spot a planetary ‘suicide’)

*Live Science: *Tropical tree in Panama has evolved to kill its 'enemies' with lightning)

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