Manipulating fruit chloroplasts as a strategy to improve fruit quality
Authors: Bennett Alan B. , Schaffer Arthur A. , Levin Ilan , Petreikov Marina , Doron-Faigenboim Adi 
Published: January 2022

The Original Objectives were modified and two were eliminated to reflect the experimental results: Objective 1 - Identify additional genetic variability in SlGLK2 and IPin wild, traditional and heirloom tomato varieties Objective 2 - Determine carbon balance and horticultural characteristics of isogenic lines expressing functional and non-functional alleles of GLKsand IP Background: The goal of the research was to understand the unique aspects of chloroplasts and photosynthesis in green fruit and the consequences of increasing the chloroplast capacity of green fruit for ripe fruit sugars, yield, flavor and nutrient qualities. By focusing on the regulation of chloroplast formation and development solely in fruit, our integrated knowledge of photosynthetic structures/organs could be broadened and the results of the work could impact the design of manipulations to optimize quality outputs for the agricultural fruit with enhanced sugars, nutrients and flavors. The project was based on the hypothesis that photosynthetic and non-photosynthetic plastid metabolism in green tomato fruit is controlled at a basal level by light for minimal energy requirements but fruit-specific genes regulate further development of robust chloroplasts in this organ. Our BARD project goals were to characterize and quantitate the photosynthesis and chloroplast derived products impacted by expression of a tomato Golden 2- like 2 transcription factor (US activities) in a diverse set of 31 heirloom tomato lines and examine the role of another potential regulator, the product of the Intense Pigment gene (IP activities). Using tomato Golden 2-like 2 and Intense Pigment, which was an undefined locus that leads to enhanced chloroplast development in green fruit, we sought to determine the benefits and costs of extensive chloroplast development in fruit prior to ripening. Major conclusions, solutions, achievements: Single nucleotide polymorphisms in the promoter, coding and intronicSlGLK2 sequences of 20 heirloom tomato lines were identified and three SlGLK2 promoter lineages were identified; two lineages also had striped fruit variants. Lines with striped fruit but no shoulders were not identified. Green fruit chlorophyll and ripe fruit soluble sugar levels were measured in 31 heirloom varieties and fruit size correlates with ripe fruit sugars but dark shoulders does not. A combination of fine mapping, recombinant generation, RNAseq expression and SNP calling all indicated that the proposed localization of a single locus IP on chr 10 was incorrect. Rather, the IP line harbored 11 separate introgressions from the S. chmielewskiparent, scattered throughout the genome. These introgressions harbored ~3% of the wild species genome and no recombinant consistently recovered the IP parental phenotype. The 11 introgressions were dissected into small combinations in segregating recombinant populations. Based on these analyses two QTL for Brix content were identified, accounting for the effect of increased Brix in the IP line. Scientific and agricultural implications: SlGLK2 sequence variation in heirloom tomato varieties has been identified and can be used to breed for differences in SlGLK2 expression and possibly in the green striped fruit phenotype. Two QTL for Brix content have been identified in the S. chmielewskiparental line and these can be used for increasing soluble solids contents in breeding programs.