Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) is a major crop plant and a model system for fruit development. Solanum is one of the largest angiosperm genera(1) and includes annual and perennial plants from diverse habitats. Here we present a high-quality genome sequence of domesticated tomato, a draft sequence of its closest wild relative, Solanum pimpinellifolium(2), and compare them to each other and to the potato genome (Solanum tuberosum). The two tomato genomes show only 0.6% nucleotide divergence and signs of recent admixture, but show more than 8% divergence from potato, with nine large and several smaller inversions. In contrast to Arabidopsis, but similar to soybean, tomato and potato small RNAs map predominantly to gene-rich chromosomal regions, including gene promoters. The Solanum lineage has experienced two consecutive genome triplications: one that is ancient and shared with rosids, and a more recent one. These triplications set the stage for the neofunctionalization of genes controlling fruit characteristics, such as colour and fleshiness

Domestication of many plants has correlated with dramatic increases in fruit size. In tomato, one quantitative trait locus (QTL), fw2.2, was responsible for a large step in this process. When transformed into large-fruited cultivars, a cosmid derived from the fw2.2 region of a small-fruited wild species reduced fruit size by the predicted amount and had the gene action expected for fw2.2. The cause of the QTL effect is a single gene, ORFX, that is expressed early in floral development, controls carpel cell number, and has a sequence suggesting structural similarity to the human oncogene c-H-ras p21. Alterations in fruit size, imparted by fw2.2 alleles, are most likely due to changes in regulation rather than in the sequence and structure of the encoded protein.In natural populations, most phenotypic variation is continuous and is effected by alleles at multiple loci. Although this quantitative variation fuels evolutionary change and has been exploited in the domestication and genetic improvement of plants and animals, the identification and isolation of the genes underlying this variation have been difficult.Conspicuous and important quantitative traits in plant agriculture are associated with domestication (1). Dramatic, relatively rapid evolution of fruit size has accompanied the domestication of virtually all fruit-bearing crop species (2). For example, the progenitor of the domesticated tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum) most likely had fruit less than 1 cm in diameter and only a few grams in weight (3). Such fruit was large enough to contain hundreds of seeds and yet small enough to be dispersed by small rodents or birds. In contrast, modern tomatoes can weigh as much as 1000 grams and can exceed 15 cm in diameter (Fig. 1A). Tomato fruit size is quantitatively controlled [for example, (4)]; however, the molecular basis of this transition has been unknown.Most of the loci involved in the evolution and domestication of tomato from small berries to large fruit have been genetically mapped (5, 6). One of these QTLs, fw2.2, changes fruit weight by up to 30% and appears to have been responsible for a key transition during domestication: All wild Lycopersicon species examined thus far contain small-fruit alleles at this locus, whereas modern cultivars have large-fruit alleles (7). By applying a map-based approach, we have cloned and sequenced a 19-kb segment of DNA containing this QTL and have identified the gene responsible for the QTL effect.Genetic complementation with fw2.2. A yeast artificial chromosome (YAC) containing fw2.2 was isolated (8) and used to screen a cDNA library (constructed from the small-fruited genotype, L. pennellii LA716). About 100 positive cDNA clones were identified that represent four unique transcripts (cDNA27, cDNA38, cDNA44, and cDNA70) that were derived from genes in the fw2.2 YAC contig. A high-resolution map was created of the four transcripts on 3472 F 2 individuals derived from a cross between two nearly isogenic lines (NILs) differing for alleles at fw2.2 ( Fig. 2A) (8). The fo...

The maturation and ripening of fleshy fruits is a developmental program that synchronizes seed maturation with metabolism, rendering fruit tissues desirable to seed dispersing organisms. Through RNA interference repression, we show that Tomato AGAMOUS-LIKE1 (TAGL1), the tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) ortholog of the duplicated SHATTERPROOF (SHP) MADS box genes of Arabidopsis thaliana, is necessary for fruit ripening. Tomato plants with reduced TAGL1 mRNA produced yelloworange fruit with reduced carotenoids and thin pericarps. These fruit are also decreased in ethylene, indicating a comprehensive inhibition of maturation mediated through reduced ACC Synthase 2 expression. Furthermore, ectopic expression of TAGL1 in tomato resulted in expansion of sepals and accumulation of lycopene, supporting the role of TAGL1 in ripening. In Arabidopsis, the duplicate SHP1 and SHP2 MADS box genes regulate the development of separation layers essential for pod shatter. Expression of TAGL1 in Arabidopsis failed to completely rescue the shp1 shp2 mutant phenotypes, indicating that TAGL1 has evolved distinct molecular functions compared with its Arabidopsis counterparts. These analyses demonstrate that TAGL1 plays an important role in regulating both fleshy fruit expansion and the ripening process that together are necessary to promote seed dispersal of fleshy fruit. From this broad perspective, SHP1/2 and TAGL1, while distinct in molecular function, regulate similar activities via their necessity for seed dispersal in Arabidopsis and tomato, respectively.

The color of tomato fruit is mainly determined by carotenoids and flavonoids. Phenotypic analysis of an introgression line (IL) population derived from a cross between Solanum lycopersicum 'Moneyberg' and the wild species Solanum chmielewskii revealed three ILs with a pink fruit color. These lines had a homozygous S. chmielewskii introgression on the short arm of chromosome 1, consistent with the position of the y (yellow) mutation known to result in colorless epidermis, and hence pink-colored fruit, when combined with a red flesh. Metabolic analysis showed that pink fruit lack the ripening-dependent accumulation of the yellow-colored flavonoid naringenin chalcone in the fruit peel, while carotenoid levels are not affected. The expression of all genes encoding biosynthetic enzymes involved in the production of the flavonol rutin from naringenin chalcone was downregulated in pink fruit, suggesting that the candidate gene underlying the pink phenotype encodes a regulatory protein such as a transcription factor rather than a biosynthetic enzyme. Of 26 MYB and basic helix-loop-helix transcription factors putatively involved in regulating transcription of genes in the phenylpropanoid and/or flavonoid pathway, only the expression level of the MYB12 gene correlated well with the decrease in the expression of structural flavonoid genes in peel samples of pink-and red-fruited genotypes during ripening. Genetic mapping and segregation analysis showed that MYB12 is located on chromosome 1 and segregates perfectly with the characteristic pink fruit color. Virus-induced gene silencing of SlMYB12 resulted in a decrease in the accumulation of naringenin chalcone, a phenotype consistent with the pink-colored tomato fruit of IL1b. In conclusion, biochemical and molecular data, gene mapping, segregation analysis, and virus-induced gene silencing experiments demonstrate that the MYB12 transcription factor plays an important role in regulating the flavonoid pathway in tomato fruit and suggest strongly that SlMYB12 is a likely candidate for the y mutation.Plants produce pigments to provide color to their flowers and fruit for attracting pollinators and seed dispersers. In crop plants, color is regarded as one of the most important consumer traits in fruit such as tomato (Solanum lycopersicum), pepper (Capsicum annuum), apple (Malus domestica), and strawberry (Fragaria spp.). In flowers and fruit, these colors are due mainly to carotenoid and flavonoid pigments.Carotenoids are lipid-soluble 40-carbon isoprenoids, and more than 700 naturally occurring carotenoids have been identified (Britton et al., 2004). Carotenoids are essential for plant life, since they provide important photoprotective functions during photosynthesis in chloroplasts and serve as precursors for the phytohormone abscisic acid (Grotewold, 2006). Beyond their essential biological activities, carotenoids also accumulate in chromoplasts of flowers and fruit, where they function as yellowto red-colored pigments (Young and Frank, 1996;Tanaka et al., 2008). Carotenoids ...

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An interspecific advanced backcross population derived from a cross between Oryza sativa "V20A" (a popular male-sterile line used in Chinese rice hybrids) and Oryza glaberrima (accession IRGC No. 103544 from Mali) was used to identify quantitative trait loci (QTL) associated with grain quality and grain morphology. A total of 308 BC3F1 hybrid families were evaluated for 16 grain-related traits under field conditions in Changsha, China, and the same families were evaluated for RFLP and SSR marker segregation at Cornell University (Ithaca, N.Y.). Eleven QTL associated with seven traits were detected in six chromosomal regions, with the favorable allele coming from O. glaberrima at eight loci. Favorable O. glaberrima alleles were associated with improvements in grain shape and appearance, resulting in an increase in kernel length, transgressive variation for thinner grains, and increased length to width ratio. Oryza glaberrima alleles at other loci were associated with potential improvements in crude protein content and brown rice yield. These results suggested that genes from O. glaberrima may be useful in improving specific grain quality characteristics in high-yielding O. sativa hybrid cultivars.

Approximately 170 BC2 plants from a cross between an elite processing inbred (recurrent parent) and the wild species Lycopersicon pimpinellifolium LA1589 (donor parent) were analyzed with segregating molecular markers covering the entire tomato genome. Marker data were used to identify QTLs controlling a battery of horticultural traits measured on BC2F1 and BC3 families derived from the BC2 individuals. Despite its overall inferior appearance, L. pimpinellifolium was shown to possess QTL alleles capable of enhancing most traits important in processing tomato production. QTL-NIL lines, containing specific QTLs modifying fruit size and shape, were subsequently constructed and shown to display the transgressive phenotypes predicted from the original BC2 QTL analysis. The potential of exploiting unadapted and wild germplasm via advanced backcross QTL analysis for the enhancement of elite crop varieties is discussed.