Editing Potato (section)

== History ==

{{Main|History of the potato}}

=== Domestication ===

Wild potato [[species]] occur from the southern United States to southern Chile.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Geographic distribution of wild potato species |last1=Hijmans |first1=R.J. |first2=D.M. |last2=Spooner |journal=[[American Journal of Botany]] |volume=88 |issue=11 |pages=2101–12 |doi=10.2307/3558435 |year=2001 |jstor=3558435 |pmid=21669641}}</ref> The potato was first domesticated in southern [[Peru]] and northwestern [[Bolivia]]<ref name="Spooner 2005 14694–99"/> by pre-Columbian farmers, around [[Lake Titicaca]].<ref name="LostCrops"/> Potatoes were domesticated there about 7,000–10,000 years ago from a species in the ''[[Solanum brevicaule |S. brevicaule]]'' complex.<ref name="Spooner 2005 14694–99">{{cite journal |last1=Spooner |first1=David M. |last2=McLean |first2=Karen |last3=Ramsay |first3=Gavin |last4=Waugh |first4=Robbie |last5=Bryan |first5=Glenn J. |date=29 September 2005 |title=A single domestication for potato based on multilocus amplified fragment length polymorphism genotyping |journal=[[Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences]] |pmid=16203994 |volume=102 |issue=41 |pmc=1253605 |pages=14694–14699 |doi=10.1073/pnas.0507400102 |bibcode=2005PNAS..10214694S |doi-access=free }}</ref><ref name="LostCrops">{{cite book |author=Office of International Affairs |title=Lost Crops of the Incas: Little-Known Plants of the Andes with Promise for Worldwide Cultivation |date=1989 |url=http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?isbn=030904264X&page=92 |isbn=978-0-309-04264-2 |page=92 |doi=10.17226/1398}}</ref><ref name="John Michael Francis 2005">{{cite book |author=John Michael Francis |title=Iberia and the Americas: Culture, Politics, and History : a Multidisciplinary Encyclopedia |publisher =ABC-CLIO |year=2005 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OMNoS-g1h8cC&pg=PA867 |isbn=978-1-85109-421-9 |page=867}}</ref> 

The earliest archaeologically verified potato tuber remains have been found at the coastal site of [[Ancon (archaeological site) |Ancon]] (central [[Peru]]), dating to 2500 BC.<ref>Martins-Farias 1976; Moseley 1975</ref><ref>{{cite book |first1=David R. |last1=Harris |first2=Gordon C. |last2=Hillman |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qxghBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA496 |title=Foraging and Farming: The Evolution of Plant Exploitation |publisher=Routledge |year=2014 |isbn=978-1-317-59829-9 |page=496}}</ref> The most widely cultivated variety, ''Solanum tuberosum tuberosum'', is indigenous to the [[Chiloé Archipelago]], and has been cultivated by the [[Indigenous peoples in Chile |local indigenous people]] since before the [[Conquest of Chile |Spanish conquest]].<ref name="Rodríguez">{{cite journal |last1=Anabalón Rodríguez |first1=Leonardo |last2=Morales Ulloa |first2=Daniza |last3=Solano Solis |first3=Jaime |date=July 2007 |title=Molecular description and similarity relationships among native germplasm potatoes (''Solanum tuberosum'' ssp. ''tuberosum'' L.) using morphological data and AFLP markers |url=https://scielo.conicyt.cl/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0717-34582007000300011 |journal=Electronic Journal of Biotechnology |volume=10 |issue=3 |pages=436–443 |doi=10.2225/vol10-issue3-fulltext-14 |doi-broken-date=1 November 2024 |access-date=6 December 2009 |hdl-access=free |hdl=10925/320}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Using DNA, scientists hunt for the roots of the modern potato |url=https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/814749 |access-date=2024-01-23 |website=EurekAlert! |language=en}}</ref> 

=== Spread ===

Following the [[Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire]], the Spanish introduced the potato to Europe in the second half of the 16th century as part of the [[Columbian exchange]]. The staple was subsequently conveyed by European mariners (possibly including the [[Russian-American Company]]) to territories and ports throughout the world, especially their colonies.<ref name="Sauer-2017">{{cite book |last=Sauer |first=Jonathan |title=Historical Geography of Crop Plants : a Select Roster |publisher=[[CRC Press]] |publication-place=[[Boca Raton, FL]] |year=2017 |isbn=978-0-203-75190-9 |oclc=1014382952 |page=320}} {{isbn |9780849389016}} {{isbn |9781351440622}} {{isbn |9781351440615}} {{isbn |9781351440639}} {{isbn |9780367449872}}</ref> European and colonial farmers were slow to adopt farming potatoes. However, after 1750, they became an important food staple and field crop<ref name="Sauer-2017" /> and played a major role in the European 19th century population boom.<ref name="John Michael Francis 2005"/> According to conservative estimates, the introduction of the potato was responsible for a quarter of the growth in [[Old World]] population and urbanization between 1700 and 1900.<ref>{{cite journal |last1= Nunn |first1= Nathan |last2= Qian |first2= Nancy |year= 2011 |title= The Potato's Contribution to Population and Urbanization: Evidence from a Historical Experiment |url= http://www.economics.harvard.edu/faculty/nunn/files/Potato_QJE.pdf |journal= [[Quarterly Journal of Economics]] |volume= 126 |issue= 2 |pages= 593–650 |doi= 10.1093/qje/qjr009 |pmid= 22073408 |s2cid= 17631317 |access-date=7 July 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110705043431/http://www.economics.harvard.edu/faculty/nunn/files/Potato_QJE.pdf |archive-date=5 July 2011 |doi-access= free}}</ref> However, lack of [[genetic diversity]], due to the very limited number of varieties initially introduced, left the crop vulnerable to disease. In 1845, a plant disease known as late blight, caused by the fungus-like [[oomycete]] ''[[Phytophthora infestans]]'', spread rapidly through the poorer communities of western Ireland as well as parts of the [[Scottish Highlands]], resulting in the crop failures that led to the [[Great Irish Famine]].<ref name="PlDis2011">{{Cite journal |last1=Nowicki |first1=Marcin |last2=Foolad |first2=Majid R. |last3=Nowakowska |first3=Marzena |last4=Kozik |first4=Elzbieta U. |display-authors=etal |date=17 August 2011 |title=Potato and tomato late blight caused by ''Phytophthora infestans'': An overview of pathology and resistance breeding |journal=[[Plant Disease (journal) |Plant Disease]] |publisher=[[American Phytopathological Society]] |volume=96 |issue=1 |pages=4–17 |doi=10.1094/PDIS-05-11-0458 |pmid=30731850 |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref name="Sauer-2017" />

The [[International Potato Center]], based in [[Lima]], Peru, holds 4,870 types of potato [[germplasm]], most of which are traditional [[landrace]] cultivars.<ref>{{cite web |title=Cultivated Potato Genebank |url=https://cipotato.org/genebankcip/potato-cultivated/ |access-date=15 June 2021 |publisher=International Potato Center}}</ref> In 2009, a draft sequence of the potato genome was made, containing 12 chromosomes and 860 million base pairs, making it a medium-sized plant genome.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Visser |first1=R.G.F. |last2=Bachem |first2=C.W.B. |last3=Boer |first3=J.M. |last4=Bryan |first4=G.J. |last5=Chakrabati |first5=S.K. |last6=Feingold |first6=S. |last7=Gromadka |first7=R. |last8=Ham |first8=R.C.H.J. |last9=Huang |first9=S. |last10=Jacobs |first10=J.M.E. |last11=Kuznetsov |first11=B. |last12=Melo |first12=P.E. |last13=Milbourne |first13=D. |last14=Orjeda |first14=G. |last15=Sagredo |first15=B. |display-authors=3 |year=2009 |title=Sequencing the Potato Genome: Outline and First Results to Come from the Elucidation of the Sequence of the World's Third Most Important Food Crop |journal=American Journal of Potato Research |volume=86 |issue=6 |pages=417–29 |doi=10.1007/s12230-009-9097-8 |doi-access=free |last16=Tang |first16=X.}}</ref> 

It had been thought that most potato [[cultivar]]s derived from a single [[Indigenous (ecology)|origin]] in southern [[Peru]] and extreme Northwestern [[Bolivia]], from a species in the ''[[Solanum brevicaule|S. brevicaule]]'' complex.<ref name="Spooner 2005 14694–99"/><ref name="LostCrops"/><ref name="John Michael Francis 2005"/> DNA analysis however shows that more than 99% of all current varieties of potatoes are direct descendants of a subspecies that once grew in the [[lowland]]s of south-central Chile.<ref name="Ames2008">{{Cite journal |doi=10.3732/ajb.95.2.252 |pmid=21632349 |title=DNA from herbarium specimens settles a controversy about origins of the European potato |journal=[[American Journal of Botany]] |volume=95 |issue=2 |pages=252–257 |date=February 2008 |last1=Ames |first1=M. |last2=Spooner |first2=D.M. |s2cid=41052277 |doi-access=free}}</ref> 

Most modern potatoes grown in North America arrived through European settlement and not independently from the South American sources. At least one wild potato species, ''[[Solanum fendleri |S. fendleri]]'', occurs in North America; it is used in breeding for resistance to a [[nematode]] species that attacks cultivated potatoes. A secondary center of genetic variability of the potato is Mexico, where important wild species that have been used extensively in modern breeding are found, such as the hexaploid ''[[Solanum demissum |S. demissum]]'', used as a source of resistance to the devastating [[late blight]] disease (''[[Phytophthora infestans]]'').<ref name="PlDis2011" /> Another relative native to this region, ''[[Solanum bulbocastanum]]'', has been used to genetically engineer the potato to resist potato blight.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Song |first1=J |last2=Bradeen |first2=J.M. |last3=Naess |first3=S.K. |last4=Raasch |first4=J.A. |last5=Wielgus |first5=S.M. |last6=Haberlach |first6=G.T. |last7=Liu |first7=J |last8=Kuang |first8=H |last9=Austin-Phillips |first9=S |last10=Buell |first10=C.R. |last11=Helgeson |first11=J.P. |last12=Jiang |first12=J |year=2003 |title=Gene RB cloned from ''Solanum bulbocastanum'' confers broad spectrum resistance to potato late blight |journal=[[Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences]] |volume=100 |issue=16 |pages=9128–9133 |bibcode=2003PNAS..100.9128S |doi=10.1073/pnas.1533501100 |pmc=170883 |pmid=12872003 |doi-access=free}}</ref> {{Anchor |Navajo potato}} Many such [[crop wild relative |wild relatives]] are useful for breeding [[Plant disease resistance |resistance]] to ''P. infestans''.<ref name="Genes">{{Cite journal |last1=Paluchowska |first1=Paulina |last2=Sliwka |first2=Jadwiga |last3=Yin |first3=Zhimin |year=2022 |title=Late blight resistance genes in potato breeding |journal=[[Planta (journal) |Planta]] |publisher=[[Springer Science and Business Media LLC]] |volume=255 |issue=6 |page=127 |bibcode=2022Plant.255..127P |doi=10.1007/s00425-022-03910-6 |issn=0032-0935 |eissn=1432-2048 |pmc=9110483 |pmid=35576021}}</ref>

Little of the [[genetic diversity |diversity]] found in ''[[Solanum]]'' ancestral and [[crop wild relative|wild relatives]] is found outside the original South American range.<ref name="Resources">{{cite journal |last1=Bradshaw |first1=J. |last2=Bryan |first2=G. |last3=Ramsay |first3=G. |year=2006 |title=Genetic Resources (Including Wild and Cultivated ''Solanum'' Species) and Progress in their Utilisation in Potato Breeding |journal=Potato Research |publisher=[[Springer Science and Business Media LLC]] |volume=49 |issue=1 |pages=49–65 |doi=10.1007/s11540-006-9002-5 |issn=0014-3065 |s2cid=30648732}}</ref> This makes these South American species highly valuable in breeding.<ref name="Resources"/> The importance of the potato to humanity is recognised in the [[United Nations]] International Day of Potato, to be celebrated on 30 May each year, starting in 2024.<ref name="UN Potato Day">{{cite web |title=United Nations: International Day of Potato: 30 May |url=https://www.un.org/en/observances/potato-day |publisher=[[United Nations]] |access-date=31 May 2024}}</ref>