Sequencing of the chloroplast genome of Taimo, a paddy cultivar of Taro (Colocasia esculenta (L.) Schott) in the Ryukyu Archipelago

TL;DR

This paper reports the sequencing of the chloroplast genome of a taro cultivar called Taimo from the Ryukyu Archipelago, revealing its closest genetic relationship to a Chinese taro cultivar.

Contribution

The study provides a complete chloroplast genome sequence for Taimo, enabling better understanding of its genetic origin.

Findings

The complete chloroplast genome of Taimo was sequenced.

Taimo is most closely related to the Chinese paddy cultivar Lipu.

The findings suggest that Taimo's ancestors were introduced to the Ryukyus from China.

Abstract

Taimo is a paddy cultivar of Taro (Colocasia esculenta (L.) Schott) that is traditionally consumed in the Ryukyu Archipelago, Japan. Its origin remains unknown, although it has been identified as belonging to a haplotype commonly found in tropical and subtropical regions. However, previously developed genetic markers were insufficient to resolve the genetic relationships among cultivars that share the same haplotype. To address this limitation, we sequenced the complete chloroplast genome of cv. Taimo. The comparison of the obtained sequence with the currently published complete and partial chloroplast genomes revealed that cv. Taimo is most closely related to the paddy cultivar Lipu from southern mainland China. These findings suggest that the ancestors of cv. Taimo were introduced to the Ryukyus from China.

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