Determining the Contribution of Tomato Fruit Photosynthesis to Fruit Development and Quality

This timely and exciting project will take this further to explore the hypothesis that engineering the Calvin cycle within fruit chloroplasts can drastically enhance yield, fruit size and nutritional quality. It brings together 3 groups with complementary expertise in photosynthesis and molecular physiology at NIAB EMR, Nottingham and Essex, giving an opportunity to gain experience in molecular and whole plant physiology. Transgenic plants produced with Fruit specific over-expression and down-regulation of genes of the Calvin-Benson cycle, SBPase and FBPaldolase, will be used to dissect the involvement of fruit photosynthesis in fruit development. Quantification of the rates of fruit photosynthesis and the impact on fruit developmental processes will take place using chlorophyll fluorescence imaging in whole fruit chambers and infra-red gas exchange analysis [2] in green and ripening fruits relative to leaves. The effect of short term and long-term environmental factors that regulates photosynthesis rate of fruit during growth will be assessed. Exploratory structural analysis of tissue will take place using cutting edge microscopy and tomography. Metabolites, micronutrients, fruit quality and pigment composition will be measured.