The grapes that give us wine probably originated 60 million years ago

Published 2024년 7월 2일

Tridge summary

A study has revealed that the ancestor of Vitaceae grapes, which led to modern commercial grapes, likely originated in the tropical Americas and Caribbean around 60 million years ago. The discovery was made after fossilized seeds from nine different grape species were found in Panama, Colombia, and Peru, with ages ranging from 20 million to 60 million years old. The research, published in Nature Plants, suggests that the grape family has a complex evolutionary history, with extinction and dispersal, and that grapes began to spread globally after the extinction of the dinosaurs. The diversification of birds and mammals after the extinction event may have aided in the dispersal of grape seeds.

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Original content

The ancestor of Vitaceae grapes, which gave rise to commercial grapes, probably originated in the tropical belt of the Americas and the Caribbean, 60 million years ago, according to a study co-authored by a researcher at the University of Michigan. The study house reported that researchers discovered fossilized seeds representing nine different species of grapes, with ages between approximately 20 million and 60 million years old, in Panama, Colombia and Peru. The oldest of these fossilized seeds came from plants related to the modern-day subfamily Vitaceae, the same subfamily to which commercial grapes belong, says U-M paleobotanist Monica Carvalho, co-author of the study published in Nature Plants. "When excavating the fossil, we found seeds related to the grape family that date back 60 million years. The oldest seed we found is closely related to the large group that gave rise to commercial grapes, the subfamily Vitaceae" said Carvalho, assistant professor of earth and ...

Source: MXfruit