Potato has a mother, and you won't believe who it is. Hint: It's a fruit

Scientists have figured out how potatoes were born. Turns out, one of its parents is the tomato. Eight to nine million years ago, tomatoes and a species that looked like a potato existed. The humble vegetable's lineage is quite confusing. It belongs to a line of species called Petota, which is believed to have been born when the ancestors of the tomato mated with Etuberosum, a species of wild potato. The latter is found in central Chile. This interbreeding is what caused today's potatoes, or tubers, to be born. When wild tomatoes, which grew in the Andes, got together with the wild potato species, a new combination of genes was born in the Petota lineage. This triggered the birth of the potato we eat today. Tubers have not been found in the ancestors of modern tomato and Etuberosum plants. They have never been observed in either lineage since they interbred to produce a hybrid. Researchers who conducted the study said it is amazing how something totally new could be created when two separate species mate with each other. The findings were published Thursday (July 31) in the journal Cell. Also Read: Frozen in time: Baby born from 30-year-old embryo makes history

Tomato is the mother, and Etuberosum is the father

"We've finally solved the mystery of where potatoes came from," Sanwen Huang, a professor at the Agricultural Genomics Institute at Shenzhen, who led the study, said in a statement. "Our findings show how a hybridisation event between species can spark the evolution of new traits, allowing even more species to emerge," he said. “Tomato is the mother, and Etuberosum is the father." The potato's father is different from today's potato in a major way. While they look the same above the ground, Etuberosum has thin underground stems and no starchy potato tubers. While studying how the potato was born, the researchers turned to the tomato. It is a completely different species and is actually a fruit. But Huang says they belong to the same plant family, along with eggplant and tobacco. "But tomato, potato, and Etuberosum are closest genetically, he added, and so they decided to take a closer look. Also Read: Klyuchevskaya volcano eruption is not the last. Several more in Ring of Fire will explode, experts warn

Tomatoes and Etuberosum had their last common ancestor between 13 million and 14 million years ago

The analysis revealed that an event that occurred nine million years ago led to the creation of the potato. They identified "mosaic-like" genetic patterns in Petota, which meant that there was an even mix of DNA inherited from both Tomato and Etuberosum. The ancient hybridisation event between Etuberosum and Tomato became possible because they shared a common ancestor between 13 million and 14 million years ago. Even after this last ancestor disappeared, Tomato and Etuberosum continued to share some genetic traits, which made them mate with each other five million years later. This led to a reshuffling of genes and led to tubers being formed by the new lineage. SP6A, a gene from the Tomato lineage, is what passed on instructions on growing tubers in potatoes. Also Read: Ghostly silence from blue whales is an ominous sign for the world

Petota was stronger that Etuberosum and Tomato plants

The emerging potatoes from this hybridisation were more resilient to the harsh climate and conditions, the study stated. They could store nutrients and water, while the same was not true for Etuberosum and Tomato plants. This led them to spread far and wide in the world, and also prevented mating with Etuberosum and Tomato plants. This is how Petota evolved into a completely new lineage, thus giving us the humble potato.