Plant Gene and Trait 2025, Vol.16, No.1, 1-14 http://genbreedpublisher.com/index.php/pgt 2 which has unique characteristics that adapt to specific climates or market needs. Some wild types, such as Ananas macrodontes and Ananas bracteatus, are particularly valuable. They are highly adaptable, resistant to diseases and drought-tolerant, and are therefore important resources for breeding better quality pineapple varieties. Thanks to new technologies in molecular biology, scientists can now study the genetic characteristics of pineapples in greater depth. Molecular marker methods such as SSR (simple sequence repeats) and SNP (single nucleotide polymorphisms) can identify tiny genetic differences with high precision (Scherer et al., 2015; Ismail et al., 2020). With these tools, breeders can screen target traits more scientifically and greatly speed up the process when breeding new varieties. This study explored the spread and evolution of pineapple germplasm resources around the world and revealed how these flows led to the formation of today’s cultivated varieties. The study also analyzed the current level of genetic diversity in pineapple crops and evaluated the application of new molecular tools in breeding work. We believe that all this information will be of great reference value for building a stronger and more sustainable pineapple industry. 2 Historical and Geographical Spread of Pineapple Germplasm 2.1 Origin and early domestication of pineapple Pineapple (Ananas comosus) originated in the lowland tropical regions of South America, mainly distributed in southern Brazil, Paraguay, and northern Argentina. Archaeological evidence and local indigenous records indicate that the domestication history of pineapples can be traced back thousands of years. The indigenous tribes of pre Columbian times, such as the Tupi Guarani and Arawak people, were the first to breed wild pineapples for larger fruit, higher sweetness, and less seed content. The domestication process in this region has the characteristic of “one-step operation”, which is to continue through asexual reproduction (such as bud sucking and creeping), so that excellent traits remain stable between generations (Chen et al., 2019a). Thanks to its natural hardiness, pineapple thrived in a range of environments, which helped it spread well beyond its birthplace. Long before European explorers ever arrived, pineapples had already made their way across much of South America and the Caribbean (Maia et al., 2023). People were growing them in diverse ecosystems—from the lush Amazon basin to the foothills of the Andes and across countless islands. The Carib people likely helped bring pineapple to many Caribbean islands. There, it wasn’t just food. People also used it as medicine and to make fermented drinks. This early farming and plant selection added a lot to the plant’s genetic variety. Because people kept choosing and growing plants with useful traits in many different places, many unique local types developed. This early diversity later became very helpful. It gave breeders a base to create modern varieties for farming today. 2.2 Global dissemination and introduction pathways The story of pineapple’s global rise began during the Age of Exploration. In 1493, Christopher Columbus encountered the pineapple for the first time on the island of Guadeloupe. Struck by its vibrant flavor and unusual appearance, he brought samples back to Europe three years later (Carvalho, 2020). Though Europeans admired the fruit, the temperate climate wasn’t suitable for growing it successfully- at least, not without artificial heat. In the early 1500s, Portuguese explorers and traders started taking pineapples to places outside their original home. They brought the fruit to warm areas like West Africa, India, and Southeast Asia. These places had the right kind of weather for growing pineapples, so the plants did well there. As time passed, pineapples began to grow in more and more places. Because the soil, weather, and farming styles were different in each area, the pineapples started to change and new local types appeared. By around the 1550s, people were already growing pineapples in faraway places like India and St. Helena, a small island in the Atlantic (Carvalho, 2020; Li et al., 2022). As the Portuguese continued exploring Asia, they eventually brought the pineapple to China during the late Ming Dynasty. By the 1700s, the pineapple had become a common fruit in many tropical places. People were growing it all over Southeast Asia, in the Caribbean, and on islands in the South Pacific.
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