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Ancient Egyptian cotton unveils secrets of domesticated crop evolution

Scientists have studied 1,600 year old cotton from the banks of the Nile and have found what they believe to be evidence of early crop evolution. These findings are the first to find this kind of evolution in a major crop group, especially since plant domestication has a relatively short history. The findings offer an insight into how crop evolution works as a part of general agriculture. They might also help scientists and researchers better equip today's crops as they face major environmental challenges, such as climate change and water shortages. The study was funded by the NERC and is published in the journal Molecular Biology and Evolution. The researchers, led by Dr Robin Allaby from the School of Life Sciences at the University of Warwick, studied the remains of ancient cotton from the Upper Nile in Egypt, sequencing their DNA using high throughput technologies. Until now, these technologies had not been used to study the genetics of ancient plants, nor had it been used in archeological applications in

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