The MVP behind the sweet potatoes we know today

The MVP behind the sweet potatoes we know today

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The sweet potato we eat is a tuberous root—basically, a lump that grows on the root.

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It's estimated that Agrobacterium genes played a decisive role in this process. That's because Agrobacterium genes are known for creating lumps on plant roots.

It even boosted their resistance to pests and drought, which is why sweet potatoes still thrive in harsh mountain soil. To put it in human terms, it's like getting a bacterial infection that somehow makes you more handsome or healthier, giving you a survival advantage that gets passed down to your kids.

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Without Agrobacterium, we might still be just eating sweet potato stems and thinking of it as nothing more than a green leafy vegetable.