Determination of the Effect of Genes on the Lycopene Content of Hybrid Tomatoes with ogc-1, hp-1, and hp-2 in Their Parental Lines
Abstract
Recently, fruit and vegetables, classified as functional foods, play important roles in human nutrition. Fruit and vegetables with high lycopene content are among them. This study aimed to determine the effects of parental lines that carry the ogc-1, hp-1 and hp-2 genes, which are predicted to be effective on lycopene content, on the lycopene content of hybrid tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) cultivars when they contain these genes either alone or in combination. According to the results of the study, lycopene content in fresh fruit was found to be 6.66 mg/100 g in the case that none of the 10 hybrid-parents among 65 hybrid cultivar candidates obtained as a result of hybridization between genotypes that contain or do not contain ogc-1, hp-1 and hp-2 genes in their genetics (control group), while the lycopene content of the parents containing these genes varied between 7.49 and 11.47 mg/100 g. The highest lycopene content (11.47 mg/100 g) was observed in hybrids whose paternal lines carried both the hp-1 and ogc-1 genes. According to all these results, it was determined that the presence of one or more of the ogc-1, hp-1 and hp-2 genes in the parental lines at the same time caused positive improvements in the lycopene content of the hybrid cultivars.
Keywords
Lycopene, ogc-1, hp-1, hp-2, Solanum lycopersicum