Imagine that one fine morning you are sitting on the dining table and the apple instead of round shaped may be available in your plate with the long shape, tomatoes in peer shape and the carrot or banana in the round shape.
Actually one perception up to now about the fruits having a particular shape. If you find the shape of the particular fruit has been little different, it may be the result of the research by the University of Georgia at the Research Institute of Agrarian Sciences of Rosario (IICAR, CONICET-UNR). The team leader of the research is Esther van der Knaap, who along with other researchers are working on the cellular, genetic and molecular bases that diversify the tomato`s shape.
The results have been published in Nature Communications. The study explains the diversification and also able to use the knowledge in plant breeding. The research has made important contributions to the study of the genetic mechanism that controls the morphological diversity in fruits and other plant organs in plants of agronomic interest.
The shape of the fruits we consume every day varies. To explain this diversification and to be able to use this knowledge in plant breeding, an international team of scientists studied the cellular, genetic, and molecular bases that diversify the tomato’s shape. The research was recently published in Nature Communications.
The research also proved that the interactions between these types of proteins are necessary for the dynamic relocation of the protein complex in the different cellular compartments. To reach these conclusions, Rodríguez said they identified the genes, studied the interaction between proteins, and carried out gene editing studies.
“We know that proteins of the OVATE and TONNEAU1 recruit motifs (TRM) families influence the determination of the shape of the edible part of different crops; however, we didn’t know if these proteins were related or if they shared similar functions in other plant species.
"The investigations of this system carried out in other crops, such as potatoes, cucumbers and melons, provide valuable information about the possible mechanisms that regulate morphological variations in plants and a reference framework that can be applied to the growth of these and other organs in all plant species," the researcher stated.
The published work is based on experiments that Rodríguez began when he was developing postdoctoral studies in the United States and data that he continued analyzing in Argentina lately.
Javier Pereira da Costa, an assistant researcher of CONICET, Vladimir Cambiaso and Magal Gimenez, postdoctoral fellows of CONICET, doctoral fellows of the Council, Dana Vazquez and Melisa Di Giacomo, Agustina Fortuny, doctoral fellow ANPCyT and Gisela Green, who is currently working in the private sector, also participated in this collaborative project.
"Currently we continue to collaborate with the Esther van der Knaap Group in a new line of research that aims to elucidate the genetic basis for other mechanisms that determine the shape of tomato fruits. Dr. van der Knaap visited IICAR in 2016 to give seminars about her lines of research and to discuss the results of joint projects and the of our working group," he further added.
