Recently, the Apple Germplasm Resources and Breeding Team at the Institute of Pomology, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS), revealed the genetic mechanisms underlying climate adaptability in wild relatives of apple. For the first time, this research systematically dissected the genetic basis of climate adaptation in Malus baccata. It not only provides a scientific basis for the conservation of crop wild species but also lays an important theoretical foundation for the molecular design breeding of new climate-resilient apple varieties. The relevant research framework also offers a replicable technical paradigm for investigating climate adaptability in other perennial fruit tree crops. The findings were published in Journal of Integrative Plant Biology.

The research team took the lead in integrating multiple sequencing technologies to construct the first haplotype-resolved, telomere-to-telomere genome of Malus baccata, with genome assembly accuracy reaching an internationally leading level, laying the foundation for mining its adaptive genetic variations. On this basis, population genetic analysis was performed on 135 natural accessions of Malus baccata, clarifying that they can be divided into four main genetic groups. Significant differences were observed in genetic diversity and heterozygosity among different groups. The team also uncovered the genetic effects of interspecific hybridization within Malus baccata, as well as divergent mechanisms of single-nucleotide variations and structural variations in response to evolutionary selection (Fig. 1).