Authors: Chih-Cheng Chien, Takashi Seiko, Chiaki Muto, Hirotaka Ariga, Yen-Chiao Wang, Chuan-Hsin Chang, Hiroaki Sakai, Ken Naito, Cheng-Ruei Lee
Published: 2025-05-29
Source: Full article
Adzuki is a central legume in East Asian culinary culture, yet its domestication origin remains debated. Using ~700 accessions across Asia, we show that the initial domestication happened three to five thousand years ago in central Japan during the Jomon period, followed by a range expansion into China and secondary hybridization with Chinese wild populations. We mapped, validated, and dated key genes associated with seed coat color evolution (