Genetic characterization of worldwide Prunus domestica (plum) germplasm using sequence-based genotyping

Abstract

Plums: DNA reveals evolutionary history of European plum varieties The plums grown today for dried prunes likely originated from hybrid crosses and artificial selection by early agrarian societies, a genetic analysis shows. Chris Dardick from the US Department of Agriculture’s Appalachian Fruit Research Laboratory in Kearneysville, West Virginia, and coworkers sequenced more than 100,000 single DNA letters scattered across the genomes of 405 different samples of the European plum (Prunus domestica). The plants clustered genetically into four groups that corresponded with known plum varieties, such as greengages and mirabelles, but not with others, including damsons. Overall, the cultivated plums harbored a low level of genetic diversity, suggestive of repeated inbreeding from a small number of founder plants. The data also point to the European plum originating from a hybrid cross between the cherry plum (Prunus cerasifera) and blackthorn (Prunus spinosa).