Have you ever wondered where a potato originated from and how it was formed? Or perhaps you are like me and never thought about it at all. But there is a mystery to it, and science has revealed it to us. The most surprising findings in science can arise from posing very old problems in novel ways. What if the foods we consume daily have more interesting histories than we could have ever dreamed? Our meals can occasionally conceal millions of years of history, interwoven through interspecies connections, climatic shifts, and evolutionary twists.
Potatoes originated from an old tomato hybrid that existed 9 million years ago
The potato is one of the world’s food staples, first cultivated thousands of years ago in the Andes region of South America before spreading globally from the 16th century. But despite its importance to humankind, the evolutionary origins of the potato have remained puzzling – until now. A new analysis of 450 genomes from cultivated potatoes and 56 genomes of wild potato species.
It has been revealed that the potato lineage originated through natural interbreeding between a wild tomato plant and a potato-like species in South America about 9 million years ago. This hybridisation event led to the appearance of the nascent potato plant’s tuber, an enlarged structure housing nutrients underground, according to the researchers.
They also identified two crucial genes involved in tuber formation. Whereas in a tomato plant, the edible part is the fruit; in the potato plant, it is the tuber. Sanwen Huang, a genome biologist and plant breeder at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences and senior author of the study published on Friday in the journal Cell said,
“Potatoes are truly one of humanity’s most remarkable food staples, combining extraordinary versatility, nutritional value and cultural ubiquity in ways few crops can match.”
The wild origins of a potato and its unexpected health advantages
Huang added,
“People eat potatoes using virtually every cooking method – baking, roasting, boiling, steaming and frying. Despite being stereotyped as carbohydrates, potatoes offer vitamin C, potassium, fiber and resistant starch, and are naturally gluten-free, low-fat and satiating – a nutrient-dense calorie source.”
Resistant starch is a type of carbohydrate that resists digestion in the small intestine and ferments in the large intestine, feeding beneficial bacteria in the gut. The modern-day potato plant’s scientific name is Solanum tuberosum. Its two parents identified in the study were plants that were the ancestors of a potato-like species now found in Peru named Etuberosum, which closely resembles the potato plant but lacks a tuber, and the tomato plant.
This goes beyond simple plant knowledge
Knowing the potato’s distant tomato lineage has significant ramifications for biodiversity and agriculture, making it more than simply a fascinating trivia. Scientists may be able to utilise the information they gather to breed future crops that are more resilient to climate change if they can determine how wild plants helped make crops like potatoes more resilient. Ancient things are being revealed as the Egyptian genome reveals ancient cultural blending.
Furthermore, there are also 24-million-year-old fossils that yield ancient protein traces. This shows just how technology is beyond AI and autonomous driving. If in 2025 these things can be traced back and have significance, then we have not started, because there is more to uncover. It turns out that your mashed potatoes are more complex than they first appear. A tiny fragment of an evolutionary love tale that began long before humans ever set foot on Earth can be found in every meal. Who knows, perhaps every type of food has a story too that is mysterious and interesting.