Researchers uncover 'parallel universe' in tomato genetics
In a paper appearing in Science Advances, Michigan State University researchers have unraveled a surprising genetic mystery centered on sugars found in what gardeners know as "tomato tar."
In a paper appearing in Science Advances, Michigan State University researchers have unraveled a surprising genetic mystery centered on sugars found in what gardeners know as "tomato tar."
Molecular & Computational biology
5 hours ago
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Tomato plants emit a scent to resist bacterial attacks. This aroma—or volatile compound—is hexenyl butanoate (HB). A team from the Research Institute for Plant Molecular and Cellular Biology (IBMCP), a joint center of ...
Biotechnology
Mar 7, 2024
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A new discovery by Tel Aviv University has succeeded in cultivating and characterizing tomato varieties with higher water use efficiency without compromising yield. The researchers, employing CRISPR genetic editing technology, ...
Biotechnology
Jan 30, 2024
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Plants produce a range of chemicals known as volatile organic compounds that influence their interactions with the world around them. In a new study, researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign have investigated ...
Plants & Animals
Jan 24, 2024
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126
Scientists at U.S. the Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service (ARS) and The Ohio State University (OSU) have been working to investigate how tomatoes may be imparting health benefits in a recently published ...
Molecular & Computational biology
Jan 18, 2024
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In an article published in the journal Development, researchers at the University of São Paulo's Luiz de Queiroz College of Agriculture (ESALQ-USP) in Brazil describe mechanisms relating to the development of the tomato ...
Molecular & Computational biology
Jan 9, 2024
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Apocarotenoids, derived from the oxidative cleavage of carotenoids by carotenoid cleavage dioxygenases (CCDs), are crucial for biological functions in plants and animals, though their definition varies among scientific communities. ...
Biotechnology
Jan 8, 2024
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Euglena (Euglena gracilis) is a microalga containing chloroplasts and producing organic matter through photosynthesis in a well-lit environment, while taking in organic matter from outside in an unlit environment. It is known ...
Biotechnology
Nov 16, 2023
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74
For tens of thousands of years, evolution shaped tomatoes through natural mutations. Then, humans came along.
Molecular & Computational biology
Oct 19, 2023
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184
According to a study published in Nature Plants, Chinese scientists have elucidated the mechanism of fruit shape formation in tomatoes and have developed fresh tomatoes for mechanical harvesting.
Biotechnology
Sep 21, 2023
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Lycopersicon lycopersicum Lycopersicon esculentum
The tomato (Solanum lycopersicum, syn. Lycopersicon lycopersicum & Lycopersicon esculentum) is a herbaceous, usually sprawling plant in the Solanaceae or nightshade family, as are its close cousins potatoes, chili peppers, tobacco, eggplant and the poisonous belladonna. It is a perennial, often grown outdoors in temperate climates as an annual. Typically reaching to 1–3 metres (3–10 ft) in height, it has a weak, woody stem that often vines over other plants. The leaves are 10–25 centimetres (4–10 in) long, odd pinnate, with 5–9 leaflets on petioles, each leaflet up to 8 centimetres (3 in) long, with a serrated margin; both the stem and leaves are densely glandular-hairy. The flowers are 1–2 centimetres (0.4–0.8 in) across, yellow, with five pointed lobes on the corolla; they are borne in a cyme of 3–12 together.
The tomato is native to South America. Genetic evidence shows that the progenitors of tomatoes were herbaceous green plants with small green fruit with a center of diversity in the highlands of Peru. These early Solanums diversified into the dozen or so species of tomato recognized today. One species, Solanum lycopersicum, was transported to Mexico where it was grown and consumed by prehistoric humans. The exact date of domestication is not known. Evidence supports the theory the first domesticated tomato was a little yellow fruit, ancestor of L. cerasiforme,[citation needed] grown by the Aztecs of Central Mexico who called it xitomatl (pronounced [ʃiːˈtomatɬ]), meaning plump thing with a navel, and later called tomatl by other Mesoamerican peoples. Aztec writings mention tomatoes were prepared with peppers, corn and salt, likely to be the original salsa recipe.
Many historians[who?] believe that the Spanish explorer Cortez may have been the first to transfer the small yellow tomato to Europe after he captured the Aztec city of Tenochtítlan, now Mexico City in 1521. Yet others[who?] believe Christopher Columbus, an Italian working for the Spanish monarchy, was the first European to take back the tomato, earlier in 1493. The earliest discussion of the tomato in European literature appeared in a herbal written in 1544 by Pietro Andrea Mattioli, an Italian physician and botanist, who named it pomo d’oro, golden apple.
The word tomato comes from a word in the Nahuatl language, tomatl. The specific name, lycopersicum, means "wolf-peach".
This text uses material from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA