Genetic Discovery Points to Bigger Yields in Tomato, Other Flowering Food Plants
Every gardener knows the look of a ripe tomato. That bright red color, that warm earthy smell, and the sweet juicy flavor are hard to resist. But commercial tomato plants have a very different look from the backyard garden variety, which can grow endlessly under the right conditions to become tall and lanky. Tomatoes that will be canned for sauces and juice are harvested from plants that stop growing earlier than classic tomato varieties, and are therefore more like bushes. While the architecture of these compact bushy plants allows mechanical harvesters to reap the crop, the early end of growth means that each plant produces fewer fruits than their home garden cousins.
A mutation in the hormone that controls flowering postpones when a plant stops producing flowers, yielding many more fruits.
(Credit: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)
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