Study says lack of flavor genes for domesticated tomatoes

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Scientists compared the genomes of 725 wild and cultivated tomatoes (a pan-genome) to the tomato genome used to represent all varieties.
The representative genome lacked the thousands of genes present in the pan genome, including the one that is responsible for the flavor of the vegetable.
The good news is that breeders seem to have recently started to pick the flavors. So it is possible that store-bought tomatoes will soon be better.

Have you ever wondered why these pale orange tomatoes at the supermarket often have such a bland taste? A new study shows that 93% of modern and domesticated tomatoes lack a version of a gene that gives tomatoes their characteristic flavor.

The culprit is not the genetic modification, but rather the breeders who have long selected desirable characteristics offering the best economic return. Over time, flavor enhancing genes were lost or selected negatively during the selection process. The result is that today's supermarket tomatoes lack genetic diversity and therefore flavor.

"During the domestication and improvement of the tomato, people have mainly focused on traits that would increase production, such as fruit size and shelf life," Zhangjun Fei, a plant breeder, said. Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, said in a statement. "Some genes involved in other fruit quality characteristics and in stress tolerance have been lost during this process."

The researchers, who published their findings in the journal Genetic nature, conducted the analysis by compiling the genetic information of 725 farmed and wild tomatoes in a pan-genome, which represents the genetic information of all strains. (The inclusion of wild tomatoes is particularly important because they are more genetically diverse.) Next, they compared this information to the genome of the domesticated tomato Heinz 1706, which is often used as a representative example of the genome of the genome. tomato, according to Discover.

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The comparison revealed that it was missing about 5,000 genes found in the pan-genome in Heinz 1706. It is important to note that the researchers found that most of the tomatoes you find in supermarkets do not have a shape rare gene giving the flavor of tomato. However, this gene – TomLoxC – is found in 90 percent of wild varieties.

"TomLoxC James Giovannoni, a USDA scientist and co-author of the paper, said in a statement: "We discovered that it also produces flavoring compounds from carotenoids, which are the pigments that make a red tomato. so an extra function beyond our expectations and an interesting result for people who like to eat tasty tomatoes. "

The researchers hope that their analysis will provide a more complete resource for "exploiting natural variation for future functional studies and molecular selection". In the meantime, it is possible that tomato breeders are beginning to taste vegetables on their own. Giovanni explained that TomLoxC is spreading more and more in modern tomatoes and domesticated, even compared to just a few years ago. The likely answer is that some breeders have started to choose the flavor.

Giving more flavor to tomatoes could make a big difference in the way we value our meals, as tomatoes play an important role in most diets. In the United States, for example, Americans consume on average 20.3 pounds of tomatoes and 73.3 pounds of processed tomatoes each year.