Scientists point to Andes potato pathogen as origin of Irish famine
Scientists point to Andes potato pathogen as origin of Irish famine
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Researchers say study may help global efforts in controlling disease that still destroys crops today. It was a disaster that killed about 1 million people, devastating 19th century Ireland, but while the potato disease linked to the Irish famine is well known, a battle has raged over where it originated.
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Scientists have long been divided over whether the fungus-like pathogen Phtytophthora infestans cropped up in the Andes or originated in Mexico. Now one team of researchers say the question is settled after conducting what they describe as one of the largest whole genome studies of the microbe and its close relatives – with the results supporting a South American origin.
“This is how science works. There’s a hypothesis, people question it, test it, present data,” said Prof Jean Ristaino, the co-author of the research from North Carolina State University. “But over time, the evidence is really weighted in favour of the Andes, because the DNA doesn’t lie, the genetics show ancestry in that region.” She added that the conclusion tallied with historical documents.
“In 1845 when this blight hit Europe and the US immediately they were trying to figure out where it came from,” Ristaino said. “And there were reports that the disease had occurred and was known among the indigenous Andean Indians that grew potatoes.”.
Ristaino did not rule out further debate but said the amount of data available would be difficult to counter. Writing in the journal Plos One, Ristaino and colleagues report how they carried out an analysis of the microbe genomes and their close relatives from South America and Mexico, finding those from Mexico emerged more recently than the others.
