Earlier this year, an international team of scientist decoded the genome of the apple. It's big news for apple growers and apple lovers. And while we're on the subject, presented here is the apple in popular culture.
The research is important because the apple is the most important fruit grown in temperate climates and because, until now, creating new varieties of apples was particularly difficult; unlike other fruits and vegetables where crossing two parents with advantageous traits (flavor, texture, disease resistance etc.) had a reasonably high success rate, apples have proven very difficult to cross with predictable results. Unlocking their genetic code, opens the way toward more successful breeding programs.
Here are some of the key findings of the research:
- The apple has 17 chromosomes and 57,000 genes. It is the most genetically complex plant known.
- Apples were domesticated 3,000-4,000 years ago.
- And the real news...unlocking the genetic code may help growers create new varieties of more nutritious, diesease resistent apples.
Below is a video news report on the topic:
The Apple In Popular Culture
New York is the "Big Apple." According to About.com, the city got this nickname in the 1920's because there were a large number of horse racing tracks around the city that gave away large prizes. One journalist, John Fitzgerald, began referring to these races as "around the big apple" and the rest is history.
The Beetles and Apple Records - founded by the Beetles in 1968, the Apple label produced Beetles albums till the group dissolved in 1974. The company is owned by the Beetles and their heirs to this day.
Apple Inc. -When Apple, Inc. the manufacturer of computers, cell phones and other nifty digital devices launched the iTunes store all hell broke loose. Now Apple the device manufacturer and Apple records were both in the music business and this created a stink over trademark rights. Well both sides settled the issue recently, so you can now download Beetles songs to your iPod.
For Mom & Apple Pie - This expression supposedly is the stock answer given by soldiers when explaining why they were joining the war effort during World War II. By this point, the apple had come to symbolize things that are typically American.
Adam & Eve -And then there was that little problem of the snake. The tree of knowledge is generally depicted as an apple tree in Western art, but there is no consensus among scholars as to the actual type of fruit tree mentioned in the bible.
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