Scientific name: Nicotiana tabacum
Common name(s): Tobacco
Name as shown in Phylogenes: Tobacco
Ploidy: Tetraploid (4x)
Description:
Nicotiana tabacum or known as Tobacco, is an annual herb and member of the Solanaceae (nightshade) family that also includes other familiar species i.e. the egg plants (fruit), bell peppers (fruit), potatoes (tuber), and tomatoes (fruit). In addition, N. tabacum evolved from the interspecific hybridization of the ancestor N. sylvestris and N. tomentosiformis about 200,000 years ago.
Although, tobacco has a negative image in the press due to a neurological stimulant, Nicotine, a highly addictive chemical that is found in cigarettes causing many ailments, interestingly Nicotine is also found in other species in the nightshade family.
Historically, the tobacco has been used as model for understanding disease susceptibility i.e Tobacco Mosaic Virus. Today, tobacco is highly valued for its BY-2 plant cell lines in understanding molecular processes.
Reference(s):
- Sierro N, Battey JN, Ouadi S, Bakaher N, Bovet L, Willig A, Goepfert S,Peitsch MC, Ivanov NV. The tobacco genome sequence and its comparison with those of tomato and potato. Nat Commun. 2014 May 8;5:3833. doi: 10.1038/ncomms4833.
Genome Database(s):