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July 25, 2008 7:27:48 AM CDT

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Geneticists Solve Mystery of Giant Tomatoes

Posted May 12, 08 11:29 AM CDT in Science & Health 

(Newser) – Tomatoes would be about the size of blueberries if it weren't for two key genetic mutations, Reuters reports. Scientists mapping the plant's DNA discovered one gene that encourages additional cell division, and another that allows the fruit to grow many more internal compartments. Together the changes have created tomatoes up to 1,000 times bigger than their wild ancestors.

"Humans began domesticating plants in the last roughly 10,000 years. They had no knowledge of genetics and no knowledge of breeding, but somehow they rendered these changes genetically on plants," one scientist said. "This knowledge may help us in the future to have a renaissance of plant domestication, because we are basically living off what humans did in pre-history."

Source Reuters

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"What's marvelous is that humans did this with no knowledge of genetics ... yet the impact was so enormous," says Steven Tanksley of the cultivation of huge tomatoes.   ((c) adactio)
The difference between wild tomatoes the size o blueberries and modern cultivated tomatoes lies in just two genes.   (AP Photo)
The beefsteak tomato can weigh upwards of a pound, a size the wild tomatoes of 10,000 years ago could only dream of.   (AP Photo/Javier Galeano)
One gene variation can make wild species grow to the size of cherry tomatoes by dampening the signal that tells the plant to stop cell division.   ((c) gutter)
When a genetic variation encouraging cell growth coincides with one telling the plant to make more internal compartments, tiny wild tomatoes can surge to 1000 times their original size.   ((c) foodistablog)
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genetics  • agriculture  • genes  • crops  • tomatoes  • mutation


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