Issue Information

Cover legend: Apples are domesticated from the wild species Malus sieversii from Central Asia and exhibit strong introgressions from the European wild species M. sylvestris . The most pronounced morphological difference between cultivated and wild species is larger fruit size and colour. Small fruits in the inner circle represent wild species and larger fruits in the outer circle are cultivated apples. Chen et al (pp. 2206–2220) show that natural SNP variations in cultivated apples had higher nucleotide diversity than wild species. An apple ERECTA‐like gene that underwent selection during domestication on the 15th chromosome is likely a major determinant of fruit length and diameter. Genome‐wide association study showed that the NB‐ARC domain is strongly associated with anthocyanin accumulation, resulting in different fruit colors.