Tomatoville® Gardening Forums - View Single Post - New Genetic Research Shows Low Diversity in Tomatoes

Fusion_power · October 16, 2014

I would not agree with 10 genes. I would suggest something less than 100 but more than 10. I can describe at least 20 traits that affect tomato shape, size, color, or vine attributes.

The one interesting bit of information in this thread is the clear skin trait which appears to be from disabling part of one particular gene. Almost all pink tomatoes share the same variant, but a few were found that have different mutations affecting the same gene and yielding the same phenotype, i.e. "pink" tomatoes.

This is a close parallel to the mutation that causes black tomatoes where 5 separate mutations affecting one gene all give nearly identical phenotypes.

October 16, 2014	#20
Fusion_power Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Alabama Posts: 2,250	I would not agree with 10 genes. I would suggest something less than 100 but more than 10. I can describe at least 20 traits that affect tomato shape, size, color, or vine attributes. The one interesting bit of information in this thread is the clear skin trait which appears to be from disabling part of one particular gene. Almost all pink tomatoes share the same variant, but a few were found that have different mutations affecting the same gene and yielding the same phenotype, i.e. "pink" tomatoes. This is a close parallel to the mutation that causes black tomatoes where 5 separate mutations affecting one gene all give nearly identical phenotypes.