Sure, why not? I'm sure those "phytonutrients" are all that's keeping me going these days...well, that and my grand-daughter...but I digress...

heck, last year I fell for "Healthkick" with the supposedly increased lycopene, and it wasn't a half bad tomato, in fact it did quite well, in the tomato year from hell.

Fusion-that article was a little vague when it said that they were able to "incorporate" a gene from a "tomato relative" to get tomatoes to produce anthocyanin....any idea if they did this with genetic engineering, or maybe crossed a purple tomatillo or what?

Just curious...

BTW, I'm also drastically altering the pH of my soil to try to add blueberries to the list of berries and cherries i have available for self-medication. Plantin' tomatoes ain't nothing compared to that!

They used conventional breeding to move a gene from L. Chilense over to L. Esculentum. This just means they crossed one of the wild tomatoes with the common fruiting tomato we grow and then backcrossed until they had a normal tomato that expresses the AFT gene.

Purple Smudge is a variety that expresses some anthocyanin in the skin. Its not expressed very much, but you know it when you see it.

The best way to lower the PH of soil is with various acidifying materials usually involving sulphur.

Fusion

The gene for this trait came from a tomato relative Solanum chilense (syn. Lycopersicon chilense).

The specific line (probably LA3668) that was used for development is from the Charles Rick Tomato Genetics Resource Center at UC Davis. OSU researchers state the line was developed by a Russian researcher who backcrossed the trait into cultivated lines from the wild S. chilense relative (ie conventional breeding techniques).

The current issue of "The Tomato Magazine", which is an industry based magazine for commerical tomato growers, has an excellent article about it and the researchers efforts.

Some points I know about it and points from the article:

• the lead researcher is Dr Jim Myers's @ OSU

• the primary interest in the line is from home gardeners (though some companies have expressed interest)

• the purple is produced from high amounts of anthocyanin

• the gene is called "Aubergine" and is a dominate trait

• the purple pigment is expressed in a thin layer just under the skin and limited to the sun exposed portions of fruits.

• the article notes crossing it into other lines, like 'SunGold' in an attempt to "improve" flavor (so it may not be so great on its own). One graduate student noted an "inky" flavor. Then he was quoted as saying:
  "by crossing extremely high anthocyanin lines with tomatoes known for their good taste, such as 'Sun Gold,' we have recovered individual plants that produce tomatoes with high amounts of anthocyanins and acceptable flavor"

• many lines will be produced from this effort starting with small types and saladettes and eventually purple cherries and large slicers

• the study is funded by an endowded chair so the graduate students are free to pursue research without having to worry about costs

• Myers states that their biochemical composition is "fundamentally different" than that of "purple" or "black" varieties such as Black Prince and Cherokee Purple. Myers called the compound responsible for CP and BP's color "pheophytin"

There is another line at the TGRC but it has the gene in a heterozygous state Abg/+. So it could have been used as well but I suspect LA3668 was used.

These are screengrabs from the Statesman Video linked below:

Sun exposed sides of fruit.
{{gwi:2103527}}

Fruit sides not exposed to sunlight.
{{gwi:2103528}}

The article has a nice picture that shows how the purple is just in that thin layer near the skin surface but alas my scanner isnt working.

The video of Dr Myers explaining the work can be see here (from the "Statesman Journal")

The Tomato Magazine was online but not up to date. If you "dig" around you can find articles from it but the publisher no longer does direct links to the magazine from what I can tell. It really is not something most home gardeners would enjoy. Though it occassionally has an artcile like this, most of the time the info is about new pesticides, trade regulations,...

Link for the video below

Here is a link that might be useful: OSU Purple Tomatoes

Very interesting...some random Sunday morning thoughts:

Can you cross most Lycopersicon/Solanum species? I understand they need to be pretty close.

I wonder if the student would have tasted ink in a blindfolded test? What does ink taste like anyway?

Strange that they're breeding tomatoes the color of eggplant(aubergine), but breeding eggplants to be anything BUT dark purple.

Myself, given a choice, all other things being equal, I find i always go for the more colorful veggie variety--the exception being potatoes: gold is nice, red skins are devine, but blue just doesn't make me salivate. Besides, it clashes with the gravy...and the ketchup, for that matter.

I'm not sure if that preference for brightly colored food is instinctive, or just part of my second childhood, but i'm surely not the only one. I don't think the current color-crazed veggie breeding frenzy is gonna end anytime soon.

Two quick questions

1. Is there Germplasm of this cultivar available to the public in any way shape or form yet?

2. The reason I ask is because I wonder about the ability of breeding this line with tomato lines containing the Crimson Gene for High Lycopene and the results from those particular crosses.

found this link:

http://jhered.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/94/6/449

I confused the genes. Abg is different.
This picture from TGRC shows the differences:
"Af" if the Aft gene

So far cultivars are not available to the general public. TGRC is not really an open respository.

The purpose of the breeding is more nutrition than looks.

since they are seperate genes you likely could breed with the crimson gene

Take a bic pen and taste the end. It isnt pleasant.

Really interesting article, alan. All the genetic potential is already there, if they can just get it turned on...Those tomatoes that have the striping seem to have picked it up from the afore-mentioned S. chilense,I found a picture of it, it's linked below.

Hortist, I was being a bit laconic, I know they're breeding for the phytonutrients, I was just musing about the possibility of inherited food wisdom. Inherited knowledge of any kind is fascinating to me. BTW, is the site linked from your page selling this year? I work with autistic kids, i'm kinda borderline myself, i'd support them, got some fun looking tomatoes there!

Here is a link that might be useful: kissin cousin

So I grew some of the purple tomatoes this year and here are the results. The first one is of a plant that produces fruit so dark it is almost black. The second is of a plant that produces fruit with shadowed shoulders. Obviously the genetics are not yet stable. Flavor is about 5 on a scale of 1 to 10 with undertones of blackberry and an acrid aftertaste. They need some work on flavor!
Almost black it is so dark

Darkened shoulders only

Fusion

wow I am growing two types of so called purple/black tomatoes.

They are really green and red, nothing that drastic!

I buy my seed packets and stick 'em in a pot. What you have done is truly amazing!!!! Gives a new meaning to "grape tomato" :)

I'm drooling...

Fusion, if/when are you going to sell seeds/plants for those?

What the heck can we call the color of these things? We can't call them purple or pink or black, because that would confuse everything to all heck with current naming conventions being the way they are.

I was looking at color chart names just now. You can look for yourself to see what name jumps out at you. I thought maybe indigo was a good match with a name that has sex appeal.

Here is a link that might be useful: Color chart

midnight doof. Midnight.

I am growing the plants on a non-propagation agreement with Jim Myers. I can't sell plants or distribute seed until I get his permission.

Fusion

when will seeds for these be available? i would love to grow them

Fusion, another question... What color is the flesh? Could you possibly peel one and slice it so we could compare it side by side with a red tomato's flesh?

I can't wait to grow this... How long, what timeframe is Jim Myers talking about before the world gets to touch and taste these things?

Here is a peeled fruit from TGRC's archive

The purple color only goes in a few mm into the the interior (as far as the light can penetrate).

Ah... thanks, hortist!

Just a creative thought... If the pigment is a result of exposure to light, perhaps the best way to maximize the anthocyanin yield would be to breed it down to cherry or currant size.