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Everyone knows that tomatoes bought in stores are rather nil. Although deceptively beautiful – most often, they lack real flavor. All of this is about to change thanks to the hard work of scientists who have isolated genes for flavor.
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Scientists from the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) and the Boyce Thompson Institute (BTI) collaborated on the construction of the pan-genome of cultivated tomato and its wild relatives.
James Giovannoni of the ARS Plant, Soil and Nutrition Research Laboratory and BTI Bioinformatics Scientist Zhangjun Fei, both based in Ithaca, NY, mapped nearly 5,000 previously unresolved genes. documented, including those of this elusive aroma.
Understanding the missing genes will lead to more flavor
A genome is a biological map of the genes of an organism and their functions. Although a genome is usually of a single variety, this pan genome includes all 725 wild tomato cultivated and closely related genes. The project revealed 4,873 genes missing from the reference genome of origin.
The domestication of tomato has encountered difficulties that have led to a very narrow genetic basis for tomatoes that we know today. The pan-genome helps to determine which genes are missing from the original model genome to facilitate overall crop breeding and improvement.
Tomatoes mean a lot of money
Generally, modern vegetable breeders focus on characteristics such as yield, shelf life, disease resistance and stress tolerance, rather than taste, to meet economic requirements. Tomatoes are among the most popular crops in the world.
More than 182 million tons are produced each year with a gross value of more than 60 billion dollars. In the United States alone, average consumption per person exceeds 20 pounds per year.
Breeders ready to bring back the taste
"One of the most important discoveries of the construction of this pan-genome is a rare form of a gene called TomLoxC, which differs mainly by the version of its gene promoter of DNA. Influences the fruit's flavor by catalyzing the biosynthesis of a number of lipids (fats) – volatile ones involved – compounds that evaporate easily and contribute to the aroma, "explained Giovannoni.
The rare version of TomLoxC was found in over 91% of wild tomatoes the size of a gooseberry, but in only 2% of older or older tomatoes grown.
"It seems that there has been strong selection pressure against or at least no selection for the presence of this version of TomLoxC at the beginning of domestication of tomatoes," added Giovannoni.
"The increase in the prevalence of this form in modern tomatoes probably reflects the renewed interest of breeders for improved flavor."
With this new information on the genome, breeders should be able to quickly find ways to improve the taste of commercially grown tomatoes, while retaining the other qualities necessary to make them economically profitable.
"These new genes discovered in the pan-genome of tomato have brought important information to the tomato genome repertoire and offer additional opportunities for tomato enhancement." Presence and absence profiles of tomato these genes in different tomato populations have helped to better understand how human selection of desired traits has reshaped tomato genomes, "said Fei.
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