Twisting a tomato gene can increase yield by 60%

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  Scientists have discovered a gene that promotes ‘hybrid vigour’ in tomatoes

  Tomatoes can be made sweeter by tweaking a gene that can also increase its yield by 60 per cent, a new study has found.

  Researchers at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York identified the gene that promotes ‘hybrid vigour’ while hunting for genes that boost heterosis, the phenomenon by which cross-breeding two varieties of plants produces more vigorous hybrid offspring with higher yields, the Telegraph reported.

  Expressing hope that the technique should work for all flowering fruit plants, Dr Zach Lippman, the lead author said: “This discovery has potential to have a significant impact on both the billion-dollar tomato industry, as well as agricultural practices designed to get the most yield from other flowering crops”.

  For their study, Dr. Lippman and his team cross bred more than 5,000 plants with slightly different genetic make-up. They observed that when a gene called SFT, which produces a protein called florigen, mutated, the yield increased by 60 per cent.

  Scientists believe that right levels of florigen — the protein that instructs plants when to stop making leaves and start making flowers, which in turn produce fruit — helps increase yield.

  “It’s the Goldilocks concept. What we find is that to maximise yield, you can’t have too much or too little florigen. A mutation in one copy of the gene results in the exact dose of florigen required to cause heterosis,” said Dr. Lippman.

  In addition to superior yield, the hybrids displayed another, perhaps equally important quality, taste. Tomato plants only produce a finite amount of sugar, which they distribute equally among their fruits.

  So higher yields usually result in each fruit having less sugar. Remarkably, the florigen gene also boosted the sugar and sweetness of individual fruits.