WASHINGTON (AFP) - US scientists have discovered and cloned a gene that controls the shape of tomatoes, a find which could help unravel the morphological mysteries of the plant world, a study released Thursday said.

The gene known as SUN, the second ever found to play a key role in the formation of elongated tomato varieties, could provide vital new insight into how edible plants develop, said Esther van der Knaap, lead researcher of the study published in the journal Science.

Tomatoes, among the most varied crops in terms of size and shape, evolved from a small, round ancestral wild fruit to the many varieties grown today. But little is known about the genetic principles for such transformations in tomatoes or other fruits and vegetables.

“Tomatoes are the model in this emerging field of fruit morphology studies,” said van der Knaap, an assistant professor of horticulture and crop science at Ohio State University.

“We are trying to understand what kind of genes caused the enormous increase in fruit size and variation in fruit shape as tomatoes were domesticated,” she added.

“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 — and gain a better understanding of what controls the shape of other very diverse crops, such as peppers, cucumbers and gourds.”

She also said that SUN, which takes its name from the oval shaped and pointy “SUN 1642″ tomato variety in which the gene was found, does not show exactly how the fruit-shape phenotype gets changed.

“But what we do know is that turning the gene on is very critical to result in elongated fruit,” she said.

The objective now, van ker Knaap said, is to determine whether the same gene, or one closely related, controls morphology in other fruit and vegetable crops.

The SUN gene affects fruit shape after pollination and fertilization, whereas the only other fruit-shape gene previously identified — known as OVATE — affects the shape of fruit before flowering, the report said.

I wish I had the camera! Loren has it with him right now.

The tomatoes are over 5.5 feet tall now, and they have outgrown the cages due to my inattendance at times to cage training.  The plants are impressive and tremendous. They are loaded with fruit.

The rows are actually 45 feet long, so there are even more of them there than I thought. Especially the bush beans. I am harvesting the bush beans right now, and the pole beans that I’m not saving for seed. I am canning them today. So many shapes and colors!

And the summer squash! Wow! What a performance those plants are putting out. I’m baking lots of zuke bread and freezing it. Some bigger ones that escaped our notice until too late are going to the chooks.

We are having some irrigation problems with algae, even with filters in line. It clogs up the T-tape holes.  Have to flush the lines repeatedly to try and help it along.  I wish I had more, but I can’t keep up with weeding what I have.

Am going to start planning for next year while ideas and notes are fresh in my head from this year right now.

The weather has been fine and hot. It is 85 degrees F right now, in the evening! The sunshine is brilliant, the UV Index is very high. I am glad the tomatoes are developing a dense canopy to protect the forthcoming fruit from sunscald.

Today we took a drive up to Willits and Spare Time Supply. We picked up a 6 pack of tall, willowy Federle tomatoes, and a 6 pack of some Japanese eggplants.

Federle is a beautiful banana-shaped paste tomato that is supposed to have tons of flavor and few seeds. It is indeterminate. it has willowy foliage like Amish Paste.

Look at these guys! Planted out just 25 days ago!

I planted statice, heliotrope, and marjoram in the bean beds in the upper garden at home. Still have more plants to put in those beds.

The tomatoes look fabulous! The early ones have flowers already, and they are bushy and wonderful. The best tomatoes we’ve ever had. The beans and summer squash are coming up, too. I have melons to plant yet, canteloups. And the hydroponic units are all ready to go.

We are having some drizzle now, the clouds have been moving in all day. I’ve been monitoring how cold it will get tonight, as I’ve planted out everything and can’t lose it all now. The row cover is here waiting until tomo0rrow to be put out. loren was working today and said it was too windy at the farm to cover the tomatoes. Tomorrow night it’s supposed to get down to 41 degrees with the wind blowing. Too cold!

We planted out more beans and tomatoes. Peppers are ready to go. Pegging down irrigation tubes today, then planting squash and bush beans. 3 rows. And planting the vining winter squash at the end of the rows.