Cherimoya

Annona cherimola

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Annona cherimola (cherimoya) is a diploid fruit species (2n=2x=14) native to Mesoamerica. It is denominated as cherimoya or "chirimoya" in South America and "anona" in Central America, as other closely related species. This species has been cultivated and appreciated since pre-Columbian times by the Maya, Olmec, and Izapa civilizations.

• Floral Biology: Cherimoya flowers are hermaphroditic with protogynous dichogamy, where female and male structures mature at different times to prevent self-fertilization and enhance cross-pollination.
• Evolutionary Significance: The genus Annona belongs to the order Magnoliales, one of the earliest lineages of flowering plants. Its primitive floral characteristics and high genetic variability provide insights into the evolution of angiosperms and their adaptation to subtropical ecosystems.
• Geographic Production: Spain is the main commercial producer with 3,000 ha, followed by Peru and Chile. It is also cultivated on a smaller scale in California (USA), Argentina, Madeira (Portugal), South Africa, Australia, Italy, Morocco, Algeria, Egypt, and Israel.
• Germplasm Conservation: The Institute of Subtropical and Mediterranean Horticulture "La Mayora" (IHSM) holds the largest germplasm collection of A. cherimola, with more than 300 accessions.
• Medicinal Importance: Cherimoya contains polyketide secondary metabolites, such as acetogenins, found in seeds and leaves. These compounds exhibit antitumor, antimalarial, and pesticidal properties.

Documents

Genome assembly stats

Summary of the Annona cherimola cv. 'Fino de Jete' genome assmebly, from Talavera et al., 2023.

	Contigs	Scaffolds
Total assembly size (Gb)	1.12	1.13
Total assembled sequences	15,076	2,052
Longest sequence length (Mb)	3.439	212.25
Average sequence length (Mb)	0.074	0.55
N50 index (sequences)	1.314	3
L50 length (Mb)	0.171	170.85

Taxonomy

Kingdom	Viridiplantae
Phylum	Streptophyta
Class	Magnoliopsida
Order	Magnoliales
Family	Annonaceae
Genus	Annona L.
Species	Annona cherimola Mill.

Links of interest

• Cherimoya Spanish Germplasm Bank
• Cherimoya Datasheet at CABI