Adam's Apples

Genetic analyses get cheaper and more powerful every year, busting myths and providing information about the lineage of apple cultivars. Honeycrisp , to cite a notorious example, is not a Macoun x Honeygold cross, as breeding records from the 1960s suggested. It is rather Keepsake x MN1627 (the latter an uncommercialized variety that has not survived).

Curation is key. Gene sequencing is helping the National Fruit Collection (UK) to prune its orchard and improve its classifications. I reviewed the NFC's searchable apple database in 2008.

The genetic heritage of just a handful of apples dominates commercial production, according to an analysis in the science journal Horticultural Research this month. The top 8 cultivars (really, top 3) dominate the orchard genome The authors ( Migicovsky et al. ) suggest that the lopsided use of these "elite cultivars" by apple breeders "leaves the apple industry vulnerable to evolving pests and pathogens and a changing climate." The study applies recent advances in gene-sequencing technology to the USDA apple germplasm collection . These new methods make feasible an analysis of this scope.

In this space, I recently published some misinformation about some research into the breeding ancestry of the Honeycrisp apple. I regret the error. Here is the real story.