Gene mutations in tomato to yield compact and early yielding forms suitable for urban agriculture
Aspects of the disclosure relate to plants containing one or more of a mutant sler (Solyc08g061560) gene or a homolog thereof, a mutant sp5g (So1yc05g053850) gene or a homolog thereof and a mutant sp (Solyc06g074350) gene or a homolog thereof, as well as methods of producing such plants. In some aspects, such plants have one or more improved traits, such as modified stem length and modified time for flowering and fruit production.
1 . A tomato plant comprising:
a genetically-altered, mutant Solanum lycopersicum ERECTA (sler) gene comprising a sequence that has at least 99% identity with the nucleic acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1, wherein the genetically-altered mutant sler gene is a null allele or a hypomorphic allele; and
a mutant SELF-PRUNING (sp) gene comprising a sequence that has at least 99% identity with the nucleic acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 67, wherein the mutant sp gene is a null allele or hypomorphic allele,
wherein the tomato plant has reduced stem length between leaves and flowers (internodes) relative to a reference tomato plant without such mutation in a non-coding, cis-regulatory element of the sler gene.
2 . The tomato plant of claim 1 further comprising:
a mutant SELF-PRUNING 5G (sp5g) gene comprising a sequence that has at least 99% identity with the nucleic acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 52, and wherein the mutant sp5g gene is a null allele or hypomorphic allele.
3 . The tomato plant of claim 1 , wherein the mutant sler gene is a null allele.
4 . The tomato plant of claim 1 , wherein the tomato plant is homozygous for the mutant sler gene.
5 . The tomato plant of claim 2 , wherein the tomato plant is homozygous for the mutant sp5g gene and homozygous for the mutant sp gene, and wherein each is a null allele.
6 . A crop harvested from the tomato plant of claim 1 .
7 . A seed produced by the tomato plant of claim 1 , wherein the seed comprises the mutant sler gene and the mutant sp gene.
8 . The tomato plant of claim 1 , wherein the tomato plant is heterozygous for the mutant sler gene.
9 . A crop harvested from the tomato plant of claim 2 .
10 . A seed produced by the tomato plant of claim 2 , wherein the seed comprises the mutant sler gene, the mutant sp gene, and the mutant sp5g gene.