Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

Crop evolution

On the origin of strawberries

Nature Plants volume 9, pages 1176–1177 (2023)Cite this article

Subjects

High-quality genomes of the cultivated strawberry’s progenitors provide the strongest evidence to date for the identity and chromosomal composition of the four subgenomes of octoploid strawberry.

The octoploid nature of F. × ananassa and its wild progenitors was discovered nearly 100 years ago by counting chromosomes3,4, but the small size of strawberry chromosomes limited what could be inferred about their subgenome composition. Cytogenetic and early Sanger sequencing studies provided evidence for F. vesca as a contributor to the octoploid genome, but further progress was slow. It was not until 2009 that F. iinumae (restricted to Japan and Sakhalin Island) was identified as a second diploid progenitor on the basis of the phylogenetic analysis of two low-copy nuclear genes5. A further refinement published in 2012 was the use of chloroplast genome sequences to identify F. vesca subsp. bracteata (northwest North America) as the direct source of the A subgenome6.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Fig. 1: Map showing the ancient (~1.5 million years ago) hybrid origin of the octoploid strawberry (eight-pointed star, dashed arrows are presumed extinct), the recent (300 years ago) hybrid origin of the cultivated strawberry, and the natural distribution of the progenitor species (circles, diploid; squares, octoploid).

References

  1. Lee, V. in The Strawberry — History, Breeding and Physiology Ch. 3–5, 15–72 (Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1966).

  2. Jin, X. et al. Nat. Plants https://doi.org/10.1038/s41477-023-01473-2 (2023).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Ichijima, K. Genetics 11, 590–604 (1926).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  4. Longley, A. J. Agric. Res. 32, 559–568 (1926).

    Google Scholar 

  5. Rousseau-Gueutin, M. et al. Mol. Phylogenet. Evol. 51, 515–530 (2009).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Njuguna, W., Liston, A., Cronn, R., Ashman, T.-L. & Bassil, N. Mol. Phylogenet. Evol. 66, 17–29 (2013).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Tennessen, J. A., Govindarajulu, R., Ashman, T.-L. & Liston, A. Genome Biol. Evol. 6, 3295–3313 (2014).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  8. Edger, P. P. et al. Nat. Genet. 51, 541–547 (2019).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  9. Liston, A. et al. Nat. Genet. 52, 2–4 (2020).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Feng, C. et al. Mol. Biol. Evol. 38, 478–485 (2021).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Jia, K.-H. et al. New Phytol. 235, 801–809 (2022).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. Session, A. M. & Rokhsar, D. S. Nat. Commun. 14, 3180 (2023).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  13. Edger, P. P. et al. Nat. Genet. 52, 5–7 (2020).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  14. Liston, A. & Ashman, T.-L. Acta Hortic. 1309, 107–118 (2021).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Fletcher, T. L., Telka, A., Rybczynski, N. & Matthews, J. V. Palaeontol. Electronica 24, 1–62 (2021).

    Google Scholar 

  16. Kjær, K. H. et al. Nature 612, 283–291 (2022).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Botany and Plant Pathology, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, USA

    Aaron Liston

Authors
  1. Aaron Liston
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Aaron Liston.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The author declares no competing interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Liston, A. On the origin of strawberries. Nat. Plants 9, 1176–1177 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41477-023-01488-9

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41477-023-01488-9

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing