Description

Malus sieversii is a wild apple native to the mountains of Central Asia in southern Kazakhstan. It has recently been shown to be the primary ancestor of most cultivars of the domesticated apple (Malus domestica). It was first described as Pyrus sieversii due to its similarities with pears in 1833 by Carl Friedrich von Ledebour, a German naturalist who saw them growing in the Altai Mountains.

Malus sieversii grows in many different habitats. They prefer high temperatures and short winters, but they are also found in the Tian Shan Mountains with long and harsh winters. They are distributed mainly within the Yili valley as the damp climate is suitable for their growth.

It is a deciduous tree growing 5 to 12 metres (16 to 39 ft), very similar in appearance to the domestic apple. Its pollen grains vary in size and are seen to be ovular when dry and spherical when swelled with water. Its fruit is the largest of any species of Malus except domestica, up to 7 cm in diameter, equal in size to many modern apple cultivars. Unlike domesticated varieties, its leaves go red in autumn: 62.2% of the trees in the wild do this compared to only 2.8% of the regular apple plant or the 2,170 English cultivated varieties. The species is now considered vulnerable to extinction.

Whole Genomes

Whole Genome Sequences & Annotations for Malus sieversii

• Malus sieversii Haploid Consensus Whole Genome v1.0
• Malus sieversii Diploid Consensus Whole Genome v1.0

S genes

Malus sieversii Haploid_Consensus_Whole_Genome_v1.0 S genes

Query	Chr	Size(bp)	Coordinates	BLASTn Hit	BLASTn %ID	Domain
SFBB.XVI	chr17	34175717	30253730-30254917	MdSFBB.XVI-S9	99.16	F-box; F_box_assoc
SFBB.XVII	chr17	34175717	30272304-30271120	MdSFBB.XVII-S9	99.34	F-box; F_box_assoc
SFBB.XIV	chr17	34175717	30280244-30281449	MdSFBB.XIV-S9	99.337	F-box; F_box_assoc
SFBB.Ib	chr17	34175717	30344587-30343385	MdSFBB.Ib-S9	99.584	F-box; F_box_assoc
SFBB.VI	chr17	34175717	30373546-30372368	MdSFBB.VI-S9	98.982	F-box; F_box_assoc
SFBB.III	chr17	34175717	30464606-30465787	MdSFBB.III-S9	98.562	F-box; F_box_assoc
SFBB.II	chr17	34175717	30489885-30491078	MdSFBB.II-S9	97.069	F-box; F_box_assoc
SFBB.IV	chr17	34175717	30494902-30496083	MdSFBB.IV-S9	97.295	F-box; F_box_assoc
SFBB.XV	chr17	34175717	30630637-30631851	MdSFBB.XV-S9	96.379	F-box; F_box_assoc
SFBB.Ia	chr17	34175717	30692938-30694140	MdSFBB.Ia-S9	97.074	F-box; F_box_assoc
SFBB.X	chr17	34175717	30730231-30729050	MdSFBB.X-S9	96.616	F-box; F_box_assoc
SFBB.XI	chr17	34175717	30799315-30798131	MdSFBB.XI-S9	95.949	F-box; F_box_assoc
SFBB.XII	chr17	34175717	30974975-30976150	MdSFBB.XII-S9	93.452	F-box; F_box_assoc
SFBB.Ic	chr17	34175717	31010821-31012017	MdSFBB.Ia-S9	88.226	F-box; F_box_assoc
SFBB.V	chr17	34175717	31165357-31164179	MdSFBB.V-S9	92.791	F-box; F_box_assoc
SFBB.VII	chr17	34175717	31229757-31228579	MdSFBB.VII-S9	95.505	F-box; F_box_assoc
SFBB.XIX	chr17	34175717	31346123-31344927	ON918629.1, PbrSFBB.XIX-S17	96.353	F-box; F_box_assoc
SFBB.XVIII	chr17	34175717	31364895-31363711	MdSFBB.XVIII-S9	96.203	F-box; F_box_assoc
SFBB.VIII	chr17	34175717	31421186-31419996	MdSFBB.VIII.1-S9	98.237	F-box; F_box_assoc
SFBB.XXI	chr17	34175717	32077026-32078375	MdSFBB.XXI-S9	99.481	F-box; F_box_assoc
S-RNase	chr17	34175717	31078114-31077872,31077527-31077090	MG598487.1, S1-RNase	100	RNase_T2

Downloads

The Malus sieversii S gene sequences are available in FASTA format.

CDS and Protein (FASTA file)

S-gene_Malus_sieversii

Publications

Sun X, Jiao C, Schwaninger H, Chao CT, Ma Y, Duan N, Khan A, Ban S, Xu K, Cheng L, Zhong GY, Fei Z. Phased diploid genome assemblies and pan-genomes provide insights into the genetic history of apple domestication. Nat Genet. 2020 Dec;52(12):1423-1432. doi: 10.1038/s41588-020-00723-9.