AAA genome group
AAA genome group
Musapedia pages on AAA subgroups and cultivars
The AAA genome group includes all the cultivars that have three sets of chromosomes inherited from Musa acuminata. Genome groups are part of the nomenclature system developped by Kenneth Shepherd and Norman Simmonds.
Triploidy is the last stage in the process of domestication.1 Since triploid cultivars are essentially sterile, they reproduce vegetatively through suckers, although breeders have been able to take advantage of cultivars' residual fertility to produce improved hybrids.2
The AAA genome group, which includes Cavendish bananas, is the most widely grown group of edible bananas. But not all AAA bananas are sweet dessert types. East African highland bananas, for example, are starchy cooking types.
Contents
References
1
Perrier, X., et al. 2011. Multidisciplinary perspectives on banana (Musa spp.) domestication. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 108.28: 11311-11318
2
Who's breeding bananas?, published 7 August 2014 in InfoMusa's Under the peel blog