WIKIMEDIA, GERHARD ELSNER
Species: Actinidia chinensis
Genome size: 758 million base pairs (estimated)
Kiwifruit (Actinidia chinensis) are packed with vitamins. Now, scientists may be able to understand how they came to be so nutritious. Researchers from the U.S. and China collaborated to sequence the genome of the Hongyang variety. Their work was published in Nature Communications last month (October 18).
Interrogating a female kiwifruit, the scientists discovered that the genome contains 39,040 protein-coding genes and that this species underwent two whole-genome duplications: one estimated to have occurred, between 73 million and 101 million years ago, the other around 27 million years ago. “The duplication contributed to adding additional members of gene families that are involved in regulating important kiwifruit characteristics, such as fruit vitamin C, flavonoid, and carotenoid ...
