Round, long, pointed tomatoes are not uncommon. The same kind, why is the difference in shape so great? Researchers at the Ohio State University unveiled the mystery of differences in biological patterns and discovered genes that determine the shape of a long strip of tomatoes, and named the sun. They hope to use the "sun" gene in the future to cultivate other fruits and vegetables of various shapes and sizes.
Tomato model
Tomato in the crop is a relatively large difference in form, the usual day-to-day tomatoes are pear-shaped, garlic-shaped, oval, sharp pepper-shaped and so on. But scientists have been exploring which genes determine the morphology of other plants, including tomatoes.
A long strip of tomato called "Sun 1642" is a breakthrough in research. The researchers found a gene that played a key role in the growth of tomatoes in the "Sun 1642" and named the gene "the sun." Research papers were published in the 14th issue of the journal Science. Researchers believe that the discovery of the "sun" gene will promote research on the shape of plants.
Esther van der Knapp, head of the research group, said: “In the growing attention to plant morphology, tomatoes are a research model. When we grow tomatoes, we hope to find out what genes are affecting the shape of tomatoes. Make them so different."
Find the "sun"
The researchers spent a lot of time and effort to find out that the "Sun" gene determines the elongated shape of the tomato.
"After looking at all the tomato cells that were pollinated, we found that the genes of the elongated tomato have similarities," said Vanderkenap. "Through genetic analysis, we determined that a subset of chromosomes may play a decisive role, with observations. In depth, the scope is continuously narrowed down, and finally the key parts of the gene strand can be found.â€
Finding the "sun" gene is not easy. The researchers first determined the genes that determine the long growth of the tomato, which was later found in round tomatoes. Therefore, the research team conducted a new round of research and determined the morphological genes again.
After initially confirming that the "Sun" gene may make the tomato grow into long strips, Vanderkolnap led the team to do a grafting experiment and moved the "sun" to a round tomato, and all of the tomatoes grew into strips.
Research prospects
Another characteristic of the "Sun" gene is that it begins to function after the tomato has completed pollination.
Before the discovery of the "sun", scientists only found genes called "eggs" that affected plant morphology. However, the "egg" begins to act on the plant during the development of the egg before the pollination process takes place.
Although the "sun" gene that determines the shape of the strip is now found, scientists still need to explore the process of changing the biological form of the gene.
Knapp said that the team’s next goal is to determine whether the “sun†gene can work on fruits and vegetables other than tomatoes.
According to Knapp, once all the genes that determine the shape of the tomato are found, people can control the shape of the tomato by themselves. (Huang Shanshan)