Apple Facts: Fruit, Closely Related To Crabapples, Originated In Kazakhstan

Nearly every child has bitten into a crabapple (left) at some point and spit it back out--yuck! But a new study in PLoS Genetics shows that modern supermarket apples (right) are more closely related to crabapples than to other, better-tasting ancient species.

Apples originated in Kazakhstan, where they show incredible variety in taste and size, then spread along the Silk Road trading route thousands of years ago.

The Romans brought sweet apples from western Asia into Europe (Europeans previously used the fruit for cider), but the domesticated apple's history was murky after that. The new study looked at rapidly evolving DNA regions known as microsatellites in 839 apple samples representing five species ranging from Spain to China.

Testing these microsatellites allowed scientists to tease out the impact of recent crossings with wild apples. The researchers confirmed that modern apples were first domesticated from wild Asian apples, but they found that subsequent crosses with European crabapples--possibly selected for disease resistance, hardiness, or other traits--contributed the most DNA to modern domesticated apples.

The scientists also found no evidence of genetic bottlenecks--a severe narrowing of genetic diversity--in domesticated apples, a pattern that contrasts with the earliest domesticated crops like barley, millet, and wheat.

ScienceNOW, the daily online news service of the journal Science

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Comments

[Icleaks]

04:32 AM on 05/22/2012

No borat jokes. I'm am disappointed

[William Patriot]

03:04 AM on 05/22/2012

Try the Melrose in Ohio east of Cleveland near Lake Erie. November harvest. Cross between a Johnathon and Red Delicious. More cider than any other apple. Some 4 inches or more. Juice runs down your arm when you peel them.

[Kay Wiles]

12:18 AM on 05/22/2012

The Golden Delicious apple origoniated in a little known place called Glen, West Virginia. The first tree is supposed to have been discovered near an orchard. There is a sign along the side of the road telling how it just sprang up and was producing golden apples. Just some trivia for you. I lived about ten miles from the farm on which the apple tree was discovered.

[nikkitytom]

02:01 AM on 05/22/2012

The most delicious apple ever! Now let's hope these lovely apples aren't hybridized into such monstrosities as the Red Delicious ... which now tastes like packing material.

BTW.... the most delicious Golden Delicious I ever ate were enormous 4 inchers .... so fragrant they exuded a perfume when raised to the nose. I bought them off a fruit vendor's cart in Mumbai ..... when it was "Bombay" .... about twenty years ago. I went back to that vendor again and again .... and could never find more. He said they came from the "North" ...... I think they came direct from heaven. But maybe it was Glen, West Virginia. Delicious!

[Michael Bean]

08:29 PM on 05/21/2012

And now I want an apple...thanks Huff Post for reminding me that I have a couple more days until payday...

[NRMLUNIT]

08:17 PM on 05/21/2012

My,my, how the garden of Eden has changed.

[Al Schrader]

05:36 PM on 05/21/2012

I have two apple trees on my estate here in Central Florida, a red delicious, and golden delicious. Both trees require proximity to the other for pollination. Real apple trees are grafted.
If you start an apple tree from a seed you will most likely get a bitter foul tasting fruit.
Real apple trees are grafted to a sour wild bitter apple stump because the bitter apple tree roots resist insects and freezing better. If you pick an apple and it tastes bitter, more than likely the good grafted part of the tree has died and the bullet proof wild bitter apple tree has grown to the point of blossoming and fruiting....Al-

[Marybeth Wallick]

05:30 PM on 05/21/2012

Everyone knows that apples originated in the Garden of Eden.

[denniswayne]

06:10 PM on 05/21/2012

Johny Appleseed invented apples and then planted them everywhere,I was learned that in grade school....LMAO!!!!!

[metusmetu]

10:33 PM on 05/21/2012

I DID TOO! Gosh, how devastating!!

[doonooch]

06:23 PM on 05/21/2012

it's in the bible !!!!!!!!!! Godz chosen fruit du jour

[JIM GAMINO]

06:43 PM on 05/21/2012

show me where in the bible it says the forbidden fruit was an apple

[glitterpet]

02:08 PM on 05/21/2012

Central/Western Asia also gave the world pears, sweet and tart cherries, apricots, plums, hazelnuts, and almonds . . . seeds/pomes from these have been found dating back thousands of years . .

Fruit and veggies from the two Americas include; avacado, the chili pepper, cacao (source of chocolate, maize (commonly called corn), papaya, peanut, pineapple, potato, tomato, vanilla bean, blueberries, pawpaws, cranberries, and a variety of squashes (pumpkin, crookneck, patty pan).

From all this, modern varieties were created, as fruit and veggie DNA spread through trade and animal/insect propogation . .. . one poster recommended the book "The Botany of Desire", great read!

Rats, now I'm hungry! LOL ;)

[GOODDOC1]

04:20 PM on 05/21/2012

I remember seeing some tiny maize ears (obviously quite long dead) in some Anasazi ruins in Arizona when I lived there. ("Fresh" corn on the cob is on sale now here, so I'm going to get some on Wednesday!) When you look at the produce section of the store, it truly IS a slice of the entire world! (Alaska has contributed Salmon Berries. We also have wild strawberries and wild blueberries up here. Village Elders know of other things like Logan Berries, but they rarely tell anyone where to find them!)

[glitterpet]

05:13 PM on 05/21/2012

. . oooooooooo, yes, and don't foget the lowly salal, and the elusive miner's lettece . . . OMG how could I forget HUCKLBERRIES! *swoon* ! There are some wonderful plants that have never made the " big time" but are beloved by natives!

The history of maize is fascinating . . . they were small in Anazai times but waaaaay before that patient folks culled that particulat little plant from other grasses, and it had only a single kernal!

Enjoy your corn . . . sometimes I like to dip it in a sauce of butter, a dash of lime, or lemon, lots of pepper, and a wee dash of hot sauce, ole! Nice to meet you! =)

[Popopnano]

02:04 PM on 05/21/2012

I have crabs and apples like a true kazakhstani

[decat2]

03:42 PM on 05/21/2012

Are you bragging or complaining ? Had I crabs,I think it woud be the latter ! LOL

[JIM GAMINO]

06:43 PM on 05/21/2012

being a TRUE kazak...he is obviously BRAGGING!!

[Xanadutu]

06:59 PM on 05/21/2012

Is your name Kim, Khloe or the other one???
Oops, that's a different 'K' name!!!

[georgev22309]

01:47 PM on 05/21/2012

Where have the Honeycrisp apples gone?! A few years ago, I tasted my first Honeycrisp apple. I have always loved apples, and I fell in absolute love when I tasted my first Honeycrisp apple. Now ... I can't even find them anymore! What happened to them? Anybody know?

[glitterpet]

02:01 PM on 05/21/2012

They are seasonal and do not store well -- try early to late fall; a lot are being sent to speciality markets, like Harry and David; depending upon where you live, check with local growers, or specialty food markets in your area in the fall.

I had a couple about three weeks ago, they were this seasons, and were not all the great by then . .happy hunting! ;)

[denniswayne]

06:12 PM on 05/21/2012

Did you eat 'em all??

[rconn03d]

01:28 PM on 05/21/2012

I read that the modern apple was created by the bears in Asia. They would only choose the largest and sweetest of the crab apples, thereby spreading those seeds further away (along with a pile of fertilizer). After many thousands of years of the modern apple spread all over Eurasia.

[Solitaire727]

12:04 PM on 05/21/2012

I understand that Johnny Appleseed was truly responsible for the spread of apple trees all over the continental US. I only wish he'd been just as fond of my favorite fruit tree, cherries.

[denniswayne]

06:13 PM on 05/21/2012

The chinese wouldn't let poor ol' Johny have any,thats why he invented apples,some of them look like giant cherries.

[DakkonA]

10:52 PM on 05/20/2012

I disagree! Apples are so differnent from crabapples they must be intelligently designed! grumblegrumblegrumble.

[BannedInBoston]

10:35 PM on 05/20/2012

I always thought apples came from Steve Jobs....

[CanadianSkeptic]

11:51 AM on 05/21/2012

only the ones with cameras built in

[drakkusshadows]

12:44 PM on 05/21/2012

Those would be the bad apples.

[UpBone]

05:05 PM on 05/20/2012

And the fishing worms we enjoy today, came from the fruit trees brought over on the ships from Europe.

[denniswayne]

06:14 PM on 05/21/2012

How in the world does a worm hold a fishing pole?