A single locus confers tolerance to continuous light and allows substantial yield increase in tomato

Aaron I. Velez-Ramirez (), Wim van Ieperen (), Dick Vreugdenhil, Pieter M. J. A. van Poppel, Ep Heuvelink and Frank F. Millenaar
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Aaron I. Velez-Ramirez: Horticulture and Product Physiology, Wageningen University
Wim van Ieperen: Horticulture and Product Physiology, Wageningen University
Dick Vreugdenhil: Laboratory of Plant Physiology, Wageningen University
Pieter M. J. A. van Poppel: Monsanto Holland B.V.
Ep Heuvelink: Horticulture and Product Physiology, Wageningen University
Frank F. Millenaar: Monsanto Holland B.V.

Nature Communications, 2014, vol. 5, issue 1, 1-13

Abstract: Abstract An important constraint for plant biomass production is the natural day length. Artificial light allows for longer photoperiods, but tomato plants develop a detrimental leaf injury when grown under continuous light—a still poorly understood phenomenon discovered in the 1920s. Here, we report a dominant locus on chromosome 7 of wild tomato species that confers continuous light tolerance. Genetic evidence, RNAseq data, silencing experiments and sequence analysis all point to the type III light harvesting chlorophyll a/b binding protein 13 (CAB-13) gene as a major factor responsible for the tolerance. In Arabidopsis thaliana, this protein is thought to have a regulatory role balancing light harvesting by photosystems I and II. Introgressing the tolerance into modern tomato hybrid lines, results in up to 20% yield increase, showing that limitations for crop productivity, caused by the adaptation of plants to the terrestrial 24-h day/night cycle, can be overcome.

Date: 2014
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DOI: 10.1038/ncomms5549

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