Mutation of a bHLH transcription factor allowed almond domestication

2019/06/13 by Raquel Sánchez‐Pérez, Stefano Pavan, Rosa Mazzeo +9 · 1 citation
Nursing · Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · #Nuts composition and effects #Plant and Fungal Interactions Research #Plant Reproductive Biology

paper · doi:10.1126/science.aav8197

openalex publication_date 2019/06/13 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/03

Abstract

How to make almonds palatable The domesticated almond tree has been feeding humans for millennia. Derivation from the wild, bitter, and toxic almond required loss of the cyanogenic diglucoside amygdalin. Sánchez-Pérez et al. sequenced the almond genome and analyzed the genomic region responsible for this shift. The key change turned out to be a point mutation in a transcription factor that regulates production of P450 monooxygenases in the biosynthetic pathway for the toxic compound. Science , this issue p. 1095

Citations

• Biosynthesis of the Cyanogenic Glucosides Linamarin and Lotaustralin in Cassava: Isolation, Biochemical Characterization, and Expression Pattern of CYP71E7, the Oxime-Metabolizing Cytochrome P450 Enzyme
• Analysis of Relative Gene Expression Data Using Real-Time Quantitative PCR and the 2−ΔΔCT Method

Cited by

• Almond [wikipedia]