Tomato News and Research

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New Genetic Discovery Could Lead to Larger Tomatoes and Eggplants

Bigger, tastier tomatoes and eggplants could soon grace our dinner plates thanks to Johns Hopkins scientists who have discovered genes that control how large the fruits will grow.

6 Mar 2025

CRISPR Unlocks the Secrets of Flowering in Plants

For generations, humans have loved the beauty of flowers. However, flowers are more than just visually appealing. They also play an important role in plant reproduction.

20 Feb 2025

The Role of Genetics and Environment in Plant Domestication

University of Southampton researchers have suggested that certain wild plant species possess specific traits that make them more suitable for human cultivation than others.

15 Jan 2025

Study Reveals Genetic Basis of Sweetpotato Flesh Color Regulation

Sweetpotatoes are an agricultural powerhouse that feeds millions globally. However, their complex genetics make it challenging for breeders to understand and improve traits like yield, disease resistance, and nutritional content. A new study reveals insights into the significance of leveraging "allele dosages" in sweetpotato breeding practices.

13 Dec 2024

New Vector Systems Open the Door for Efficient Genetic Modification

A recent breakthrough in biotechnology promises to change the landscape of plant genetic engineering. Imagine a persistent invader-;Agrobacterium-;long used to deliver genes into plants. Despite its historical success, the journey has been fraught with setbacks, especially with crops that launch fierce immune defenses.

25 Nov 2024

Transforming Waste into Culinary Delights with Neurospora

Chef-turned-chemist Vayu Hill-Maini has a passion: to turn food waste into culinary treats using fungi.

30 Aug 2024

Study Reveals Strigolactones as Key Regulators of Tomato Flowering

In an article published in the journal PNAS, researchers at the University of São Paulo's Luiz de Queiroz College of Agriculture (ESALQ-USP) in Brazil describe for the first time how strigolactones, plant hormones discovered several decades ago, control flowering and fruiting in the tomato (Solanum lycopersicum). The findings of their study point to a new opportunity for management of fruiting time and could have a significant impact on total yields for this crop.

1 Aug 2024

AI Models Predict Plant Gene Activity with Unprecedented Precision

Genome sequencing technology provides thousands of new plant genomes annually. In agriculture, researchers merge this genomic information with observational data (measuring various plant traits) to identify correlations between genetic variants and crop traits like seed count, resistance to fungal infections, fruit color, or flavor.

30 Apr 2024

Novel Microfluidic Device for Rapid Plant Stress Diagnosis via miRNA Detection

In natural environments, plants encounter biotic and abiotic stresses that can significantly affect their productivity and health.

25 Mar 2024

Evolutionary Mystery Identified in Genome of Plants

Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) has enabled the significant advancement of plant genomics through its involvement in sequencing the first plant genome. Now, the same research laboratory hopes to address why introducing the same mutation in different crops does not always result in the desired traits.

5 Mar 2024

Tomatoes as Nature's Antibacterial Agents

According to research published in Microbiology Spectrum, a magazine of the American Society for Microbiology, tomato juice can eliminate Salmonella Typhi and other bacteria that can damage people's digestive and urinary system health. Typhoid fever is brought on by the lethal human-specific bacterium Salmonella Typhi.

31 Jan 2024

Uncovering How Tomatoes Fight Off Notorious Blight

Recently, The Plant Journal’s cover highlighted an innovative study that has garnered attention in the interesting field of plant biology.

10 Jan 2024

Reassessment of the Role of Background Mutations in Genome Editing

More than a thousand years ago, tomatoes evolved through natural mutations. After human evolution, they cherry-picked tomatoes with preferred traits.

20 Oct 2023

Molecular Responses of Tomatoes to Chilling Stress

Cold sensitivity is a severe concern for several critical crops.

13 Oct 2023

NC State Researchers Develop New Method to Produce Seedless Plants

North Carolina State University researchers have successfully transferred an important gene from one compartment of a plant cell to another to produce tobacco plants that lack pollen and viable seeds, while otherwise growing normally.

19 Sep 2023

Tomatoes’ Distinctive Flavor Is the Result of Evolutionary Syndromes

Biologists from the University of Massachusetts Amherst have uncovered evidence of evolutionary “syndromes”—a set of traits that co-occur.

12 Sep 2023

Novel Genotyping Method Reveals New Insights into Lettuce Genomics

A consortium of European investigators used SPET for the first time in lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.) as part of the European Evaluation Network (EVA) of the European Cooperative Programme for Plant Genetic Resources (ECPGR), with the goal of studying its genetic diversity and identifying genomic regions that underpin agronomically important traits.

31 Aug 2023

Smart Agrochemical Delivery Platform Shows Promise for Precision Agriculture

Improvements in crop productivity and nutritional value are needed to meet increased global demand for food in terms of both quantity and quality.

1 Aug 2023

USDA Funds Texas A&M AgriLife Research to Develop “Holy Grail” of Tomatoes

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has funded a new Texas A&M AgriLife Research project expected to bring researchers even closer to developing the "holy grail" of tomatoes.

7 Jul 2023

Using better probiotics to maintain a healthy gut microbiome

Bacteria have thousands of genes and functions that we, the human host, do not have. For instance, bacteria can help us digest fiber, provide support to our immune systems, and absorb important nutrients. But reaping the benefits of "good bacteria" is easier said than done.

29 Mar 2023