Indian scientists, part of an international team of 300 from 14 countries, played a key role in cracking the genetic code of the tomato, as well as its wild ancestor, which should help tomato growers come up with tastier and more nutritious varieties.
The Tomato Genome Consortium compared today’s domesticated tomato with its wild South American parent, Solanum pimpinellifolium. The tomato has 35,000 genes, but there is only a variation of 0.6 per cent between the wild variety and the modern variety, according to the study which appeared in the journal Nature.
This achievement is likely to lower production costs and increase global tomato production, making it better equipped to combat pests, pathogens, drought and diseases.
Prof Akhilesh Tyagi, director of the National Institute of Plant Genome Research, who was closely associated with this study, noted India had played a key role in contributing to Chromosome 5 of the tomato.
It also helped generate a five-fold sequence coverage of the entire tomato genome by the use of Next Generation Sequence technology.
“The identification of genes (on) ripening, nutrition, disease resistance was done over seven years,” he said.
Researchers said that together the sequences provide the most detailed look yet at functional parts of the tomato genome and show order, orientation, types and relative positions of all its 35,000 genes.
The sequences should help researchers find the links between certain tomato genes and the characteristics they determine, and will extend scientists’ understanding of how genetic and environmental factors affect the health of a crop.
Tomato is a member of the Solanaceae (nightshade) family; and the new sequences may provide reference points to help identify key genes in the tomato’s relatives, which include the potato, pepper and eggplant.