- A recent study, “The genomic footprints of wild Saccharum species trace domestication, diversification, and modern breeding of sugarcane”, analysed the genomes of 390 sugarcane varieties from Australia, Brazil, China, France, French Polynesia, India, Japan, and the US.
- These plants were hybrids of a variety of genes, with multiple chromosomes in them (polyploidy).
- Such polyploidy had occurred due to commercial transport by human breeders, who transported and sold sugarcane across various states in a country.
- Polyploidy is the heritable condition of possessing more than two complete sets of chromosomes.
- Upon genetic analysis, the researchers found that Arunachal Pradesh had the most diverse sugarcane breeds. Read More
The Many Roles of Sugarcane in India and the World
Context
Findings