For the first time the genome of the cultivated tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) and that of its wild relative (Solanum pimpinellifolium) have been sequenced. The milestone is an important step towardsimprovement of the nutritional properties, resistance to diseases, taste and color of this food, as announced by the authors in the latest issue of the journalNature. The publication is the result of several years of work by members of the Tomato Genomics Consortium, an international collaboration between Germany, Argentina, Belgium, China, South Korea, Spain, France, Holland, India, Israel, Italy, Japan , United Kingdom and United States.
Researchers have identified that the tomato genome has35,000 genes organized on 12 different chromosomes. In addition, according to the SINC agency, the analysis of the genetic content of this plant indicates that it suffered several consecutive triplications about 60 million years ago. According to Antonio Granell, a researcher at the Primo Yúfera Plant Cell and Molecular Biology Institute who has directed the Spanish part of the work, this factcould have saved the tomato from the last great mass extinction that wiped out 75% of the planet’s species, which include dinosaurs.
These reorganizations would explain evolutionary changes that happened millions of years ago and that contributed to the appearance of new species of plants with fruits and their diversification. In addition, some of the repeated fragments include genes that would be responsible for some properties of the tomato, such as, for example, the formation of a more resistant skin to better preserve the fruit.
The sequencing of the new genome will have implications for other plant species such as strawberries, apples, melons and bananas, which share some characteristics with tomatoes.
