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ARS Home » Midwest Area » Ames, Iowa » Corn Insects and Crop Genetics Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #431930
Research Project: SoyBase and the Legume Information System - Information Infrastructure and Research for Legume Crop Improvement

Location: Corn Insects and Crop Genetics Research

Title: A single hybrid origin of cultivated peanut

Author
item DE BLAS, FRANCISCO - Universidad Nacional De Cordoba
item LEAL-BERTIOLI, SORAYA - University Of Georgia
item SEIJO, JOSE - Universidad National Del Nordeste
item ABERNATHY, BRIAN - University Of Georgia
item Vaughn, Justin
item RAMACHANDRAN, DHANUSHYA - University Of Georgia
item Cannon, Steven
item Scheffler, Brian
item BERTIOLI, DAVID - University Of Georgia

Submitted to: The Plant Journal
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 11/8/2025
Publication Date: 12/24/2025
Citation: de Blas, F.J., Leal-Bertioli, S.C.M., Seijo, J.G., Abernathy, B.L., Vaughn, J.N., Ramachandran, D., Cannon, S.B., Scheffler, B.E., Bertioli, D.J. 2025. A single hybrid origin of cultivated peanut. The Plant Journal. https://doi.org/10.1111/tpj.70619.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/tpj.70619

Interpretive Summary: Peanut is an important crop in the U.S. and worldwide, providing a nutrient-dense and palatable food without cooking or processing. Peanut is also a rich source of oil, protein, and nutrients in a variety of processed foods and industrial products. Peanut has been known for some time to have originated in South America as the merger of two wild species, Arachis ipaensis and Arachis duranensis -- and to have then diversified into the wide range of varieties that are grown worldwide. This study reports the genome sequence of an individual of one of the two wild species that contributed to modern peanut, and identifies this individual as a better representative of the Arachis duranensis species that contributed to cultivated peanut. This study also examines a large collection of cultivated peanut varieties and concludes that cultivated peanut originated only once, less than 10,000 years ago. This study of peanut's origin and diversification will help researchers and breeders to more efficiently select varieties for specific peanut-growing locations and conditions.

Technical Abstract: This study presents evidence that cultivated peanut (Arachis hypogaea) originated from a single hybridization event between two diplid species, A. duranensis and A. ipaënsis less than 10,000 years ago. Evidence for this hybrid origin was already strong, but this study extends this evidence, analyzing more than 1,600 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) across a broad collection of peanut varieties and also with the diploid progenitor species. The wild relatives of peanut are highly selfing and their geocarpy means they plant their own seeds, allowing them to persist as discrete populations for millennia. This unusual biology creates a rare opportunity for genetic archaeology: ancestral lineages can be identified with exceptional precision. The results in this study reaffirm a single origin, identifying A. duranensis from Río Seco (K 30065) and A. ipaënsis K 30076 as the closest known relatives of the A- and B-subgenomes of peanut. As a genomic resource, we generated a chromosome-scale assembly of A. duranensis K 30065 and confirmed that it is more closely related to the A subgenome of peanut than the current reference genome (V14167). Even if somewhat closer wild accessions were found through new field collections, they would still belong to the same ancestral lineage. With this level of evidence, the origin of peanut is now known in greater detail than that of any other ancient polyploid crop.