Extensive variation between chromosomes of North American and European hop
Hop is an essential ingredient in brewing, providing beer with its characteristic bitterness and aroma. Most modern hop cultivars are hybrids between European and North American hop lineages, but how these ancestries contribute to bitter acid content, the most important trait in hop breeding, remains unclear. Here, we report chromosome-scale, haplotype-resolved assemblies of the hybrid hop cultivar Apollo, assign European and North American ancestry across the genome, and identify varying levels of recombination suppression between chromosomes of either origin. Using this reference, we uncover genetic and chemical diversity in core bittering pathways between European and North American hops. We further show additive effects of beneficial European and North American alleles on bitter acid content, providing a foundation for genomics-assisted hop breeding.
Authors
- Václav Bačovský (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7621-8936)
- Axel Himmelbach (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7338-0946)
- Aldo Almeida (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5284-8992)
- Heidrun Gundlach (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6757-0943)
- Martin Mascher (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6373-6013)
- Birger Lindberg Møller (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3252-3119)
- Christian Janfelt (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4626-3426)
- Nikola Mićić (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3173-6566)
- Birgitte Skadhauge (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7317-4376)
- Nils Stein (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3011-8731)
- Georg Haberer (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6612-6939)
- Nanna Bjarnholt (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5301-5885)
- Lucie Hořáková (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0006-0656-6859)
- Ilka Braumann (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0617-9465)
- Sudharsan Padmarasu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3125-3695)
- Sandip M. Kale (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0665-5094)
- M. Spannagl (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0701-7035)
- Oliver Kemp
- Paul D. Matthews
- Flavia Krsticevic
- Nadia Kamal
- Thomas Lux
- Mark-Timothy Rabanus-Wallace (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4663-985X)
- Isabella Kruse-Andersen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0009-9546-2147)
- Kasper Nielsen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5510-7767)
- Nicholas Price
- Nicholi Pitra (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8642-5138)
- Oliver Gericke (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8638-6797)
- Alexander Feiner (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6564-8826)
- Louise de Bang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6621-8219)
- Klaus F. X. Mayer
Institutions
- University of Copenhagen (DK)
- Aarhus University (DK)
- Carlsberg Laboratory (DK)
- German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (DE)
- Helmholtz Zentrum München (DE)
- Czech Academy of Sciences, Institute of Biophysics (CZ)
- Carlsberg Group (Denmark) (DK)
- Carnegie Department of Plant Biology (US)
- HOPE Clinic (US)
- Leibniz-Institut für Pflanzengenetik und Kulturpflanzenforschung (IPK) (DE)
- Agriculture and Food (AU)
- Karl Landsteiner Society (AT)
- Technical University of Munich (DE)
- Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (DE)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Nature Communications
- Published
- 2026-05-27
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-72379-8
- Primary Topic
- Hops Chemistry and Applications
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- Villum Fonden
- Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung
- Bayerische Forschungsstiftung
- Danmarks Frie Forskningsfond