Unraveling the Mystery of Modern Potatoes' Origins

According to Spooner, who works in the ARS Vegetable Crops Research Unit at Madison, Wis., potato seeds can last several years and so could have easily survived the trip. But even more compelling are data he recently assessed with colleagues at the International Potato Center in Lima, Peru, and the Central Potato Research Institute in Shimla, India. The researchers surveyed an assortment of potatoes from India considered to be remnants of some of the first potatoes to Europe. They found that these descendants share specific molecular traits with potatoes from Chile--not the Andes.