Kiwifruit growers and breeders will now have the opportunity to better understand their crop after U.S. and Chinese researchers assembled a draft genome for the Vitamin C-rich fruit.

Photo: BTI, Cornell

The project was undertaken by the International Kiwifruit Genome Consortium (IKGC), which was founded in 2011 by the Hefei University of Technology, Sichuan University, Cornell University, and the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

A release from Cornell's Boyce Thompson Institute (BTI) for Plant Research highlighted the genome was sequenced using the Hongyang variety.

Kiwifruit originated in the mountains and ranges of southwestern China, from where its cultivation started to spread throughout the 21st century after its seeds were introduced to New Zealand.

Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) statistics estimate that global production of the fruit stood at 1.44 million metric tons (MT) in 2011.

The sequence is accessible here.

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