Scientists resolve avocado flower sex change mystery

Researchers from the University of California, Davis and the University of California, Riverside identified a single gene, SDMYB, that controls the avocado flower's two-day sex alternation.

Avocado flowers open twice: first as female, then as male, with A-type trees flowering female in the morning and B-type trees female in the afternoon.

The study, published in PNAS, sequenced hundreds of avocado genomes to trace the flowering cycle difference to SDMYB.

This genetic discovery provides avocado breeders a new tool for developing improved varieties.