Botanists Seek Genes of Tomato Relatives

Biologists from University of California-Davis and the University of Chile-Santiago, hoping to improve the common tomato, Lycopersicon esculentum, completed their second expedition to Chile last year. The researchers struggled through rugged terrain from the coast to the high Andes in search of seed from tomato relatives to add to the genebank of the C.M. Rick Tomato Genetics Resource Centre. Although the varieties retrieved on the Chilean trek are not appealing as food, they may harbour genes that could be used to improve the quality of the tomato, lending pest resistance or increased hardiness for example.

Links:

• Tomato Trek Yields Chilean Treasure from the Agricultural Research Service of the US Department of Agriculture


• The C.M. Rick Tomato Genetics Resource Centre at the University of California-Davis

Posted by Eric La Fountaine at 4:47 PM on January 9, 2006