A plant scientist from The University of Nottingham has played a key role in the sequencing of the tomato genome.

Professor Graham Seymour, from the School of Biosciences, is among a group of over 300 scientists from 14 countries that has sequenced the genomes of the domesticated tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) and its wild ancestor, Solanum pimpinellifolium.

This achievement, by The Tomato Genome Consortium (TGC), will help breeders to identify important genes allowing them to create new varieties quickly and efficiently. The genomes will help breeders to deliver tomatoes with beneficial traits like improved taste and higher concentrations of nutrients. Having the genome sequence could help develop tomatoes that are better equipped to combat the droughts and diseases that plague growers, helping ensure global food security.

The UK market for tomatoes is worth around £625m a year. The research could also benefit breeders of other crops in the Solanaceae family, such as potatoes, peppers and aubergines.

Prof Seymour, Professor of Biotechnology, and co-author and co-leader of the BBSRC-funded research team in the UK, said: “Tomatoes are one of the most important fruit crops in the world, both in terms of the volume that we eat and the vitamins, minerals and other phytochemicals that both fresh and processed tomato products provide to our diets. The tomato is also the model plant we use to investigate the process of fruit ripening, so understanding this genome will help us unravel the molecular circuits that make tomato and other fruits ripen and give them their health-promoting properties.”

The UK effort was led by researchers in Nottingham and Imperial College London in collaboration with leading scientists at The Genome Analysis Centre, the James Hutton Institute, the University of East Anglia (UEA) and the Natural History Museum. The project was funded in the UK by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), Defra and the Scottish Government and the sequencing was undertaken by the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute.

Dr Gerard Bishop, former Reader of Plant Biology at Imperial College London, who co-led the UK research with Prof Seymour, said: “The publication of the tomato genome sequence has been eagerly anticipated both by the international research community and by tomato growers and breeders worldwide. Coordinating the efforts of over 300 scientists across 14 countries has been a considerable achievement in which the UK has played an important role, and the outcomes of this effort are already having an impact on the global research effort to deliver better tomatoes.”

Prof Douglas Kell, BBSRC Chief Executive, said: “This is very exciting as it will allow us to equip breeders with the tools they need to deliver increased yields of better crops, and to do so sustainably.”