{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,4]],"date-time":"2026-09-04T18:13:01Z","timestamp":1788545581301,"version":"build-2803163510"},"reference-count":16,"publisher":"National Academy of Sciences","issue":"36","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,4]],"date-time":"2026-09-04T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1788480000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100000270","name":"UKRI | Natural Environment Research Council","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["NE\/S014470\/3"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["NE\/S014470\/3"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100000270","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/100014013","name":"UK Research and Innovation","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["EP\/X026868\/1"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["EP\/X026868\/1"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100014013","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["www.pnas.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A."],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,8]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>\n                    Melon (\n                    <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">Cucumis melo<\/jats:italic>\n                    L.) domestication is thought to have occurred independently once in Northeast Africa and twice in India, but archaeobotanical seed remains point to a possible additional domestication event in China. Because\n                    <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">Cucumis<\/jats:italic>\n                    seeds are difficult to diagnose morphologically, genomic data from archaeological material are needed to evaluate these scenarios and reconstruct ancient melon traits. We sequenced two Song Dynasty (960\u20131279 CE) melon seeds from Shuomen Gugang (China), recovering 5.5\u00d7 and 2.1\u00d7 nuclear genome coverage. Nuclear and chloroplast analyses place both seeds within cultivated\n                    <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">C. melo<\/jats:italic>\n                    from China, within the \u201c\n                    <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">agrestis<\/jats:italic>\n                    \u201d East Asian gene pool. To assess whether these seeds carried traits associated with sweet dessert melons, we examined loci underlying fruit phenotypes. Neither seed carried alleles for orange flesh; one harbored an allele linked to yellow\/orange peel, the other possessed alleles associated with green flesh and reduced acidity. Since wild melons are monoecious, the presence of the derived andromonoecy allele in one seed, associated with rounder fruit shape, suggests early selection on fruit morphology. Together, these findings indicate that Song Dynasty melons were likely consumed as fresh or culinary fruits rather than sweet dessert melons. Their flesh coloration resonates with Song-period aesthetic sensibilities, exemplified by jade-green celadon ceramics frequently crafted in melon-shaped forms. By anchoring East Asian archaeobotanical remains within modern melon genomic variation, this study provides a temporal framework for melon cultivation in China and shows how ancient genomics can illuminate past crop use.\n                  <\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1073\/pnas.2610284123","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,4]],"date-time":"2026-09-04T17:36:25Z","timestamp":1788543385000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1073\/pnas.cm10313","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Ancient DNA reveals early use of melons in China\u2019s Song dynasty"],"prefix":"10.1073","volume":"123","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1105-5069","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Nathanael","family":"Walker-Hale","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/01v29qb04","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}],"name":"Department of Biosciences, Durham University","place":["Durham, United Kingdom"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yunfei","family":"Zheng","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Zhejiang Institute of Archaeology and Cultural Heritage","place":["Hangzhou, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4071-0782","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Marion","family":"Verdenaud","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/03xjwb503","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}],"name":"Institute of Plant Sciences Paris-Saclay, Universit\u00e9 Paris-Saclay, CNRS, National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and the Environment, Universit\u00e9 d\u2019Evry","place":["Gif-sur-Yvette, France"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5184-8587","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Lara","family":"Pereira","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/05krs5044","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}],"name":"Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, School of Biosciences, University of Sheffield","place":["Sheffield, United Kingdom"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Oscar Alejandro","family":"P\u00e9rez-Escobar","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/00ynnr806","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}],"name":"Royal Botanic Gardens","place":["Kew, London, United Kingdom"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Michaela","family":"Preick","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/03bnmw459","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}],"name":"Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Institute for Biochemistry and Biology, University of Potsdam","place":["Potsdam, Germany"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3246-868X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Abdelhafid","family":"Bendahmane","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/03xjwb503","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}],"name":"Institute of Plant Sciences Paris-Saclay, Universit\u00e9 Paris-Saclay, CNRS, National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and the Environment, Universit\u00e9 d\u2019Evry","place":["Gif-sur-Yvette, France"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0478-3930","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Michael V.","family":"Westbury","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/035b05819","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}],"name":"Section for Molecular Ecology and Evolution, Globe Institute, University of Copenhagen","place":["K\u00f8benhavn K, Denmark"]},{"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/04qtj9h94","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}],"name":"Department of Health Technology, Section for Bioinformatics, Technical University of Denmark","place":["Kongens Lyngby, Denmark"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0441-4705","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Michael","family":"Hofreiter","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/03bnmw459","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}],"name":"Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Institute for Biochemistry and Biology, University of Potsdam","place":["Potsdam, Germany"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Hanno","family":"Schaefer","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/02kkvpp62","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}],"name":"Department Life Science Systems, Technical University of Munich","place":["Freising, Germany"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4767-4737","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Xinyi","family":"Liu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/01yc7t268","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}],"name":"Department of Anthropology, Washington University in St. Louis","place":["St. Louis"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4547-6195","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Guillaume","family":"Chomicki","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/01v29qb04","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}],"name":"Department of Biosciences, Durham University","place":["Durham, United Kingdom"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3704-0703","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Susanne S.","family":"Renner","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/01yc7t268","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}],"name":"Department of Biology, Washington University in St. Louis","place":["St. Louis"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"341","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,4]]},"reference":[{"key":"e_1_3_3_1_2","unstructured":"Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations FAOSTAT\/Crops and livestock products (2024). http:\/\/www.fao.org\/faostat\/en\/#data. 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Walker-Hale Supporting materials for Ancient DNA reveals early use of melons in China\u2019s Song Dynasty. Figshare. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.6084\/m9.figshare.31830979.v2. Deposited 2 July 2026."},{"key":"e_1_3_3_8_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/tpj.12814"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_9_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"L. Valverde S. Torres-Montilla M. Pujol J. Garcia-Mas M. Rodriguez-Concepcion A melon (Cucumis melo) homologue of REPRESSOR OF PHOTOSYNTHETIC GENES prevents chloroplast differentiation in the fruit flesh. bioRxiv [Preprint] (2025). https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1101\/2025.08.28.672820 (Accessed 15 June 2026).","DOI":"10.1101\/2025.08.28.672820"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_10_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1093\/jxb\/erz182"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_11_2","first-page":"1714","article-title":"A Kelch domain-containing F-Box coding gene negatively regulates flavonoid accumulation in muskmelon","volume":"169","author":"Feder A.","year":"2015","unstructured":"A. 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