The common apple tree (Malus domestica) is a fruit tree originally native to Central Asia, now cultivated worldwide. Over 7500 cultivars of the apple tree exist, each varying on desired size, flavor, and colour of the fruit. Along with their nutritional value, apples produce a number of important compounds such as polyphenol oxidase, the protein responsible for the enzymatic browning of some foods. Additionally, apple seeds contain trace amounts of amygdalin, a toxic cyanogenic glycoside. The apple tree genome is diploid and its size is 742 Mb.
Genome release:
https://www.nature.com/articles/ng.654
Velasco, R., Zharkikh, A., Affourtit, J., Dhingra, A., Cestaro, A., Kalyanaraman, A., Fontana, P., Bhatnagar, S.K., Troggio, M., Pruss, D. and Salvi, S., 2010. The genome of the domesticated apple (Malus× domestica Borkh.). Nature genetics, 42(10), p.833.
Content written by Galyna Vakulenko Summer Intern 2018
