Photograph by Jim Richardson
A slide representing 20,000 tomato genes is projected onto Mark D’Ascenzo, a researcher at Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research in Ithaca, New York. Scientists there are trying to identify the genes that make certain tomatoes resistant to diseases. "We’ve isolated hundreds of genes that are interesting candidates," D’Ascenzo says, "but we’re still years away from understanding the whole picture." Once scientists do, the genes that are responsible for resistance can be synthesized and inserted into a new generation of tomato plants.
