Mutation of a bHLH transcription factor allowed almond domestication

Wild almond species accumulate the bitter and toxic cyanogenic diglucoside amygdalin. Almonddomestication was enabled by the selection of genotypes harboring sweet kernels. We report the completion of the almond reference genome. Map-based cloning using an F1 population segregating for kernel taste led to the identification of a 46-kilobase gene cluster encoding five basic helix-loop-helix transcription factors, bHLH1 to bHLH5. Functional characterization demonstrated that bHLH2 […]