NTU–Japan Study Uncovers Adzuki Bean Origins

A multinational team led by Prof. Cheng-Ruei Lee of National Taiwan University (NTU) has revealed that domesticated adzuki beans originated in Japan. Their findings, published in Science, show that agriculture in Japan began thousands of years earlier than previously believed, offering new insights into the history of farming in East Asia.

Working with Dr. Ken Naito of Japan’s National Agriculture and Food Research Organization (NARO), the team analyzed genetic material from adzuki beans preserved in Japan’s national germplasm collections. The results provide the first genomic evidence that the Jōmon people, long thought to be solely foragers, practiced early crop selection between 3,000 and 5,000 years ago.

The researchers also identified genes responsible for seed color and domestication traits, finding mutations that date back nearly 10,000 years. This suggests that adzuki bean trait selection began far earlier than previously assumed and demonstrates how genomics can complement archaeological research.

This study, supported by Taiwan’s National Science and Technology Council, Academia Sinica, and NTU, not only reshapes our understanding of Japanese agriculture but also opens new directions for crop breeding and plant domestication research.

Link to the article in Science: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.ads2871