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Article|30 May 2022|OPEN
Domestication history reveals multiple genetic improvements of Chinese bayberry cultivars 
Junke Li1 ,† , Jun Chen1 ,† , Luxian Liu1 , Nan Chen1 , Xian Li3 , Kenneth M. Cameron4 , Chengxin Fu1 , and Pan Li,1 ,
1Laboratory of Systematic & Evolutionary Botany and Biodiversity, College of Life Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China
2Laboratory of Plant Germplasm and Genetic Engineering, School of Life Sciences, Henan University, Kaifeng 475000, China
3Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Horticultural Plant Integrative Biology, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 31058, China
4Department of Botany, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53706, USA
*Corresponding author. E-mail: cxfu@zju.edu.cn,panli@zju.edu.cn
†Both authors contributed equally to the study.

Horticulture Research 9,
Article number: uhac126 (2022)
doi: https://doi.org/10.1093/hr/uhac126
Views: 331

Received: 16 Dec 2021
Accepted: 20 May 2022
Published online: 30 May 2022

Abstract

Dear Editor,

The Chinese bayberry (Morella rubra Lour., 2n = 2x = 16) is an evergreen fruit tree native to southern China and the only domesticated species in family Myricaceae [1]. Today M. rubra is widely cultivated in subtropical regions of China and has become an economically important fresh fruit with >300 varieties and an annual production of 1.5 million tons [2, 3]. The aim of the current study was to reveal the domestication history of M. rubra using restriction site-associated DNA sequencing (RAD-seq) data. Seventy-eight individuals were sampled, including 44 landraces and improved cultivated varieties, 19 wild individuals from the natural distribution ranges in southern China, 14 from five other Morella species, and 1 from Comptonia.