These mysteries are compounded by the extensive mandarin diversity of the Ryukyu islands and mainland Japan 5, including: tachibana, a culturally significant ornamental citrus grown throughout mainland Japan shiikuwasha, grown in the Ryukyus and renowned for its health promoting qualities 6 and other traditional and wild Ryukyuan citrus of unknown ancestry (Supplementary Note 1). Yet the nature of the domestication process, and the relationships among these mainland Asian types remain poorly understood. Because of their consumer-friendly attributes, mandarins have seen the greatest percentage increase in global citrus production 3.The phenotypic and genomic diversity of mandarin types in the Nanling region of southern China has driven speculations that mandarins first arose and were domesticated in this region 4. Mandarin-type citrus comprise a heterogeneous group of east Asian citrus with small and typically easily peelable fruit 1, 2. Our results provide a coherent biogeographic framework for understanding the diversity and domestication of mandarin-type citrus through speciation, admixture, and rapid diffusion of apomictic reproduction. We trace the origin of apomixis alleles in citrus to mangshanyeju wild mandarins, which played a central role in citrus domestication via adaptive wild introgression. These hybrid species reproduce clonally by apomictic seed, a trait shared with oranges, grapefruits, lemons and many cultivated mandarins. ryukyuensis with various mainland mandarins.

The taxonomic complexity of east Asian mandarins then collapses to a satisfying simplicity, accounting for tachibana, shiikuwasha, and other traditional Ryukyuan mandarin types as homoploid hybrid species formed by combining C. Here, comparative genome analysis of 69 new east Asian genomes and other mainland Asian citrus reveals a previously unrecognized wild sexual species native to the Ryukyu Islands: C. The origin and dispersal of cultivated and wild mandarin and related citrus are poorly understood.

Yu mandarin