The tomato genome sequence provides insights into fleshy fruit evolution.
Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) is a major crop plant and a model system for fruit development. Solanum is one of the largest angiosperm genera and includes annual and perennial plants from diverse habitats. Here we present a high-quality genome sequence of domesticated tomato, a draft sequence of its closest wild relative, Solanum pimpinellifolium, and compare them to each other and to the potato genome (Solanum tuberosum). The two tomato genomes show only 0.6% nucleotide divergence and signs of recent admixture, but show more than 8% divergence from potato, with nine large and several smaller inversions. In contrast to Arabidopsis, but similar to soybean, tomato and potato small RNAs map predominantly to gene-rich chromosomal regions, including gene promoters. The Solanum lineage has experienced two consecutive genome triplications: one that is ancient and shared with rosids, and a more recent one. These triplications set the stage for the neofunctionalization of genes controlling fruit characteristics, such as colour and fleshiness.
D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000235:genetics; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D014644:Genetic Variation / Q000235:genetics; D018745:Genome, Plant / Q000235:genetics*; D023281:Genomics; D018551:Solanum lycopersicum / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D018749:RNA, Plant / Q000235:genetics; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D011198:Solanum tuberosum / Q000235:genetics; D013025:Glycine max / Q000235:genetics; D026801:Synteny
D018749:RNA, Plant