The flowering gene SINGLE FLOWER TRUSS drives heterosis for yield in tomato

Krieger, U., Lippman, Z. B., Zamir, D. (March 2010) The flowering gene SINGLE FLOWER TRUSS drives heterosis for yield in tomato. Nature Genetics, 42 (5). pp. 459-463.

Abstract

Intercrossing different varieties of plants frequently produces hybrid offspring with superior vigor and increased yields, in a poorly understood phenomenon known as heterosis. One classical unproven model for heterosis is overdominance, which posits in its simplest form that improved vigor can result from a single heterozygous gene. Here we report that heterozygosity for tomato loss-of-function alleles of SINGLE FLOWER TRUSS (SFT), which is the genetic originator of the flowering hormone florigen, increases yield by up to 60%. Yield overdominance from SFT heterozygosity is robust, occurring in distinct genetic backgrounds and environments. We show that several traits integrate pleiotropically to drive heterosis in a multiplicative manner, and these effects derive from a suppression of growth termination mediated by SELF PRUNING (SP), an antagonist of SFT. Our findings provide the first example of a single overdominant gene for yield and suggest that single heterozygous mutations may improve productivity in other agricultural organisms.

Item Type: Paper
Subjects: organism description > plant > tomato
CSHL Authors:
Communities: CSHL labs > Lippman lab
Depositing User: CSHL Librarian
Date: 16 March 2010
Date Deposited: 03 Oct 2011 21:05
Last Modified: 17 Dec 2014 20:44
Related URLs:
URI: https://repository.cshl.edu/id/eprint/15458

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