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Plant Physiol, October 2001, Vol. 127, pp. 575-583
fw2.2 Directly Affects the Size of Developing Tomato
Fruit, with Secondary Effects on Fruit Number and Photosynthate
Distribution1
T. Clint
Nesbitt2 and
Steven D.
Tanksley*
Department of Plant Breeding, 252 Emerson Hall, Cornell University,
Ithaca, New York 14853
fw2.2 is a quantitative trait locus responsible for
approximately 30% of the difference in fruit size between large,
domesticated tomatoes (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.)
and their small-fruited wild relatives. The gene underlying this
quantitative trait locus was cloned recently and shown to be associated
with altered cell division in ovaries (Frary et al., 2000). However, it
was not known whether the change in fruit size is associated with other changes in plant morphology or overall fruit yield changes that could
potentially cause the fruit weight phenotype. To shed light on this
issue, a detailed comparison was made between nearly isogenic lines
differing for alleles at this locus to search for pleiotropic effects
associated with fw2.2. Field observations show that
although the small-fruited nearly isogenic line produced smaller
ovaries and fruit as expected, this was compensated by a larger number of fruitdue mainly to a significantly greater number of
inflorescencesbut with no net change in total fruit mass yield. This
strongly suggests that fw2.2 may have a pleiotropic
effect on how the plant distributes photosynthate among fruit. In a
flower removal experiment to control for differences in inflorescence
size and number, fruit size remained significantly different between
the nearly isogenic lines. These observations indicate that the primary
effect of fw2.2 is in controlling ovary and fruit size,
and that other associated phenotypic effects are secondary.
1
This work was supported by the U.S. Department
of Agriculture National Research Initiative Cooperative Grants Program
(grant no. 97-35300-4384), by the National Science Foundation
Plant Genome Program (grant no. DBI-9872617), and by the
Binational Agricultural Research and Development Fund (grant no. US
2427-94).
2
Present address: Cornell Cooperative Extension, 311 Kennedy Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853.
*
Corresponding author; e-mail sdt4{at}cornell.edu; fax
607-255- 6683.
© 2001 American Society of Plant Physiologists
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