New genetics research into major crops could be key to global food security

By sequencing the genome of 22 different species within the genus Solanum, which includes vital crops like potatoes, tomatoes, and aubergines, researchers have developed a pan-genome, an advanced genetic map that could lead to higher-yielding and more resilient crops.

Nearly 75% of the world’s food supply comes from just 12 crops, making global agriculture highly vulnerable to environmental changes like flooding, drought and disease. Expanding the variety of crops used for food production is important as we tackle the planetary emergency, but genetic complexity has long been an obstacle. Traits that increase yield in one species do not necessarily translate to others, even among closely related plants.

Dr. Sandra Knapp, Merit Researcher at the Natural History Museum and an author on the paper, highlights the significance of this discovery.

“Plant breeding has taken place for thousands of years to increase yields, but this comes at a cost,” Dr. Knapp explains. “The focus on production has narrowed the genetic diversity of many crops, limiting their ability to adapt to challenges like climate change. This pan-genome allows us to explore how wild relatives might help improve our crops and determine how feasible those improvements are.”

Solanum is one of the largest plant genera, with more than 1,200 species. While this offers opportunities to use wild relatives for crop improvement it also presents challenges due to the genetic complexities within the group. One of these is the presence of paralogues; genes that start as identical copies but evolve in different ways and can lead to unpredictable results in closely related species, including crops.

A Step Toward More Resilient Crops

The newly constructed Solanum pan-genome has already provided key insights into local crops, such as the African eggplant, a crucial food source in Africa and Brazil. By collaborating with local breeders and combining this indigenous knowledge with advanced genomic research, the team identified a previously unknown gene affecting fruit size in this crop. This creates the opportunity to improve harvest yields and productivity of the African eggplant.

Understanding the taxonomic relationships between species is fundamental to unlocking innovations in food security, medicine, and biodiversity conservation.

“Taxonomy is a challenge in groups as large as Solanum, and it took a lot of effort from our colleagues at Cold Spring Harbor to get high-quality genomes so that we could do this work,” Sandra says. “But it was worth it, as every time we team up across disciplines like this, we understand how the world works a little better.”

The findings were today published in the journal Nature.

As part of the NHM’s mission to transform the science of natural history, our research is focused on providing solutions from and for nature. This study is part of our genomics theme which aims to explore and advance our understanding of the genomic processes driving species evolution and biodiversity by harnessing the vast potential of collections.

The impact our food habits have on the natural world is explored in our new gallery, Fixing Our Broken Planet. The gallery opens to the public on Thursday 3 April.

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