Abstract

USDA -ARS Robert W. Holley Center and Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research, Tower Road, Cornell University. Ithaca, NY 14853 USA

The cultivated tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) is a tractable and efficient model for fruit development, storage quality and nutrient accumulation, in addition to being a crop of established and expanding production, consumption and culinary importance the world over. Diverse, well characterized and freely available germplasm resources, combined with efficient transformation and a high quality genome sequence have accelerated the pace of tomato biology with practical implications to crop improvement. Our lab explores the function of ripening transcription factors underlying fruit ripening mutations including those altered in the rin, nor, and u mutations defining fruit development roles for the MADS , NAC and GLK transcription factor families, respectively. Mining of these families provided additional genes effecting fruit development and ripening characterized in transgenic tomato plants. Additional regulators have been uncovered via examination of fruit quality QTLs and genes associated with ripening based on expression profiles. Genome enabled analysis of fruit development further indicates that transcriptional control intersects with changes in the epigenome. Exploration of additional crop genomes suggests that some of the regulators identified in tomato are conserved through evolution. Discoveries made through identification of genes underlying mutations and QTLs, combined with analyses of ripening phenomena as they permeate the maturing fruit tissues, reveal a complex developmental process regulated by multiple factors with often conserved components that may serve as useful targets for crop shelf-life and quality improvement across a diverse spectrum of important fruit crop species.