Soon, scientists will be able to make long, thin tomatoes

She said SUN didn8217;t tell exactly how the fruit-shape phenotype was altered, but what was known is that turning the gene on is very critical to result in elongated fruit.

The researchers now hope to examine whether this same gene, or a gene that is closely related in sequence, control fruit morphology in other vegetables and fruit crops.

8220;Once we know all the genes that were selected during that process, we will be able to piece together how domestication shaped the tomato fruit 8212; and gain a better understanding of what controls the shape of other very diverse crops, such as peppers, cucumbers and gourds,8221; Knaap said.

The researchers identified SUN, which takes its name from the Sun 1642 variety where it was found, after looking at the entire collection of tomato germplasm. They noticed there were some varieties that had very elongated fruit shape. 8220;By genetic analysis, we reached the region of the genome that controls this elongated shape, and narrowed down to the gene,8221; he said.