An international pear genome consortium, composed of seven universities and institutes, has completed the first pear genomic sequence. Pear (Pyrus spp.) is one of the major and oldest cultivated fruit trees in the temperate regions, which is likely to have originated during the Tertiary period (65-55 million years ago) in southwestern China. It is genetically diverse with more than 5,000 cultivars and accessions present all over the world that could be divided into two major groups, the European or “Occidental” pears and the Asiatic or “Oriental” pears.
