Top 7 domesticated plants that used to be wild

Genetically modified foods are considered an advancement in modern science, but it wasn't just scientists in well-funded laboratories that made them possible. Most of the garden plants known to mankind have already been genetically improved many years ago. Many of our favorite fruits and vegetables are radically different from their wild ancestors. What did these plants look like before? Look in our material.

Introducing the top 7 domesticated plants that used to be wild and exist thanks to the genetic engineering of the past.

7. Almonds

The almonds we eat today are domesticated varieties derived from several types of wild almonds. Wild almonds are bitter due to the presence of amygdalin, and when decomposed, this substance forms poisonous hydrocyanic acid.

Obviously, people picked and crossed the sweetest varieties of bitter almonds until the nuts were edible. This is quite a feat, considering that eating a dozen toxic nuts will kill someone testing almonds for edibility.

6. Watermelon

The modern watermelon is one of the most heavily modified fruits in human history. The first domesticated varieties appeared south of the Sahara.

Watermelons found in the wild consisted primarily of seeds and weighed no more than 80 grams. Their modern "descendants" are 91.5% water and weigh 2 kg or more.

The appetizing red color of the fruit is due to the overproduction of a compound called lycopene. People deliberately cultivate this trait in watermelons. Analysis of the genome of the watermelon also shows that domestication has reduced its natural resistance to disease.

5. Bananas

"Wild" bananas are not like their "domesticated" counterparts. They are tiny, hardly edible, tough, and have a lot of seeds. But sometimes there are also mutant variants without seeds.

Humans had to work with this specific mutation for at least 6,500 years to create the seedless banana variety.

4. Corn

The ancient Mexicans began to selectively breed the "queen of the fields" about 10 thousand years ago.

This plant appeared suddenly and mysteriously in archaeological records; the secrets of its development have been unraveled only recently by molecular genetic analysis. The most important change was the suppression of branching of the stems. As a result, the plant produces fewer ears, but these ears are huge, with long rows of grains.

3. Strawberries

Sweet and juicy strawberries are relatively new. It was cultivated only in the 1750s.

The mathematician and engineer Amadeus François Frezier brought strawberries from Chile to Europe in the 18th century. Some of the plants Frezier donated to the Parisian botanical garden. They were planted next to Virginia strawberries imported from North America. Garden strawberry (strawberry) was obtained by crossing these two species.

2. Coffee

Coffee is another participant in the ranking of man-made plants. It is included in the list of human-enhanced plants because there are so many varieties created solely to satisfy our craving for new tastes.

The first evidence of the use of a coffee drink dates back to the 15th century. It was drunk in the Sufi monasteries of Yemen.

There are currently about 10 different types of coffee trees. This is despite the fact that there are different varieties within each species. Moreover, all modern, genetically modified varieties come from the Arabica coffee tree. And it itself is a hybrid of mysterious origin.

1. Wheat

Tops the list of the most popular domesticated plants. Its cultivation began at the very beginning of the Neolithization.

An unpleasant feature of wild wheat is that its grains cannot be harvested. They fall off immediately after ripening.

Archaeologists have found ancient ears of wheat and the data of their analysis indicate that in the period from 10 thousand to 6.5 thousand years ago, the plant was gradually domesticated. The most important achievement of targeted breeding is the increase in the percentage of grains with a shedding resistance gene.