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Post by gobmaters on Mar 23, 2010 7:20:20 GMT -5
Susceptibility to fruit cracking is associated with clear skin color. What large fruited varieties with clear skin has anyone observed to be highly crack resistant? Thanks. GOBmaters
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PVP
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Post by PVP on Mar 23, 2010 7:51:16 GMT -5
(Limbaugh's) Potato Top.
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jcm05
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Post by jcm05 on Mar 23, 2010 9:11:41 GMT -5
Interesting. So this is an inherent quality of the y gene? Is this one of the reasons market hybrids are generally red or is it simply because yellow epidermis is the dominate trait?
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Post by gobmaters on Mar 23, 2010 19:35:37 GMT -5
I think most consumers are more accustomed to red tomatoes with the yellow skin so they prefer those to other colors. There has been considerable breeding work done on pink tomatoes and some areas have produced them. At one time, the large greenhouse tomato industry in Ohio and Michigan was based on the production of pink tomatoes. Arkansas growers produced pink tomatoes for the shipping market for many years, and the Univ. of Arkansas breeders developed and released several pink fruited varieties. Also, Vic Lambeth at the Univ. of Missouri developed and released pink tomato varieties. Pink tomatoes with high sugar content (Momotaro= Tough Boy) are highly preferred over red tomatoes in Japan and China. There are numerous heirloom tomatoes with clear skin that are highly touted for good flavor (pink, black, and bicolor). I think the clear skin may have something to do with improved flavor (perhaps more sugar) or different volatiles that make them different and perhaps better flavor across the board than yellow skin varieties. I have always liked the taste of most pink tomatoes and am working to improve tomatoes of different colors with clear skin for both disease resistances and resistance to fruit cracking, bursting of the skin, and improved shelf life. This is a challenge because the clear skin types do seem to be more tender and subject to cracking. I think this is due to some inherent difference between clear skin and yellow skin but don't know for sure exactly what the difference is. Clear skin may be thinner and more subject to tearing and rupturing than yellow skin. I would like to hear others thoughts on this subject.
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Post by gobmaters on Mar 23, 2010 19:59:38 GMT -5
If you search pink tomato gene on the internet, which I just did, there is new information on the clear skin gene that helps explain the greater susceptibility to fruit cracking and perhaps better flavor. GOBmaters
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Post by sunflowers on Mar 24, 2010 5:47:57 GMT -5
Until I joined several of these tomato boards about a year and 1/2 ago, i didn't know that it was supposedly only the color of the skin that made the difference between a 'red' and 'pink' tomato.
Personally I don't buy that THAT'S the only thing. To me most RED tomatoes have an 'afterbite' that gives them a sharp taste that I just don't like at all. But i do like many of the Pink varieties as the flavor is smoother, sweeter and doesn't have that afterbite.
Now is that bite just something in the skin ?? I don't know and to me it doesn't make sense that JUST the skin color would affect the taste so much.
JMO, Carol
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Post by gobmaters on Mar 24, 2010 7:43:21 GMT -5
It has been known from the early years of modern tomato breeding that there is a recessive gene for clear skin that makes tomatoes pink rather than the normal red color when the tomatoes have yellow skin. Clear skin is not really clear but is translucent, like the glass wall of a common frosted light bulb. The red color showing through the translucent skin results in diluting the red color of the flesh coming through the skin to appear pink.
Although there is clearly this one gene that results in pink color, it was only recently that the pathway of this gene was identified, and it has become clear that this gene is responsible for many more changes in the tomato fruit than just the pink color we perceive. The fact that many people prefer pink tomatoes to red and that there are so many of the heirlooms that people consider as having really outstanding flavor that have the clear skin rather than yellow had made me think long ago that the clear skin gene was affecting more in the tomato fruit than just the color of the skin. The recent report implies that the clear skin gene was just recently found. this is misleading since the gene has been known for a long time and used widely in tomato breeding over the years. What the new research reports that is of significance is that the clear skin gene is involved in altering a lot of traits in tomato and is not solely just a change in skin color. I agree completely with the post prior to this one.
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PVP
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Post by PVP on Mar 24, 2010 9:20:16 GMT -5
Susceptibility to fruit cracking is associated with clear skin color. Is this an absolute - that clear skin is proven to be associated with susceptibility to fruit cracking? The fact that many people prefer pink tomatoes to red and that there are so many of the heirlooms that people consider as having really outstanding flavor that have the clear skin rather than yellow had made me think long ago that the clear skin gene was affecting more in the tomato fruit than just the color of the skin. If clear skin is associated with outstanding flavor but also associated with skin cracking/bursting, is it possible to overcome the skin cracking/bursting tendencies without losing the outstanding flavor? In other words, could a person use Burgess Crackproof or Glamour x clear skin parent line to incorporate crack resistance and then select for the most crack resistant clear skin recombinants in F2 and subsequent generations ... without losing any of the flavor boost from the clear skin gene? Or are clear skin and cracking/bursting inextricably associated? [Not withstanding that you might get some negative drag from whatever is perceived to be the inferior flavor profile from the yellow epidermis parents]
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Post by gobmaters on Mar 24, 2010 9:47:05 GMT -5
Numerous observations over the years have shown that clear skin tomatoes are generally more susceptible to fruit cracking and bursting of the skin than yellow skin tomatoes. The recent research findings I referenced indicate that the clear skin in tomatoes is thinner and less elastic than yellow skin, which could explain the greater tendency of the skin to crack and burst. Also, if you look at segregating populations for skin color, it quickly becomes evident that the clear skin segregates are more prone to cracking and bursting of the skin. Just think about the clear skin varieties you are familiar with, not just the pink fruited ones, but the blacks and bicolors and how they mostly have this same problem. Breeders who have worked with clear skin tomatoes such as those in Arkansas and Missouri and also in Japan have made improvements in crack resistance in clear skin types so some progress can be made. However, it is much more difficult to develop clear skin tomatoes highly resistant to cracking and bursting of the skin than it is varieties with yellow skin. Also, making the clear skin varieties firmer and more resistant to cracking may involve incorporating modifying genes which would affect the clear skin gene in present varieties so that the influence on flavor and perhaps other traits such as texture are lessened. Time will tell if breeders will concentrate on this area.
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Post by frogsleapfarm on Mar 24, 2010 21:05:43 GMT -5
Interesting stuff. Gobmaters, can you provide a reference for the new research? This has definitely got me thinking a little differently.
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Post by gobmaters on Mar 24, 2010 21:31:31 GMT -5
Put "pink tomato gene" into Yahoo or Google search and you will get the links to numerous news releases regarding the work in Israel with the clear skin gene. GOBmaters
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Post by frogsleapfarm on Mar 25, 2010 10:18:30 GMT -5
Very cool, clear skin is controlled by another transcription factor, this one regulating over 200 independent genes.
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Post by tomato on Mar 25, 2010 20:42:42 GMT -5
This highlights something that most entry level genetic courses do not cover. Life processes are rarely the result of a single gene, rather, they tend to be bio pathways with many junctions along the way where action can stop, branch, jump to a new track, or spin off new processes.
Eva Purple Ball has relatively little cracking.
Mater
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Post by PVP on Mar 27, 2010 12:49:56 GMT -5
GOBmaters, haven't you used German Johnson in some of your projects? It frequently is described as a crack free pink tomato. An Mule Team, same comment commonly heard I haven't grown it. Only grew German Johnson once and can't remember much about it except it was large, sweet and not very productive. Any comments on German Johnson with regard to cracking?
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jcm05
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Post by jcm05 on Mar 27, 2010 18:24:51 GMT -5
Eva Purple Ball has relatively little cracking. I agree. I don't think I've ever witnessed an EPB fruit crack.
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