Patchwork sequencing of tomato San Marzano and Vesuviano varieties highlights genome-wide variations

Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) is one of the most economically important vegetable crops worldwide. It is a rich source of micronutrients for human diet and a model species for fruit quality. Investigation of tomato genetic resources is a crucial issue for better straight evolution and genetic studies as well as tomato breeding strategies.

Since the late 18th and throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries a huge array of crosses and selection activities has taken place in Europe giving rise to a rich collection of tomato landraces [1, 2]. In particular, an extensive selection work was performed in Italy by “Campania” farmers that developed several varieties adapted to local conditions and with quality requirements well delineated for specific uses. Among them, Vesuviano (RSV) and San Marzano (SM) varieties, grown in rich volcanic soil surrounding Vesuvius, are considered important models for fruit quality parameters. The Vesuviano has been cultivated on the Vesuvio hill, since the end of 19th century. It was selected by the local farmers because of its tolerance to the drought [3]. The origin of the San Marzano variety is very debatable. Some people report that San Marzano was a mutant from the local varieties (Corbarino); other people report that San Marzano was a natural hybridization between the grown varieties in the Agro-Sarnese-Nocerino area. Certainly, the cultivation of the San Marzano ecotype started in the years 1903–1904 in the Agro-Sarnese-Nocerino area becoming immediately a top variety for peeling [4]. Previous studies revealed that presently cultivated Vesuvio and San Marzano genotypes revealed peculiar sensory profiles in perception of sweetness and sourness [5, 6]. San Marzano and Vesuvio fruits can purchased by at a price that is nearly five times higher than that of other varieties [7].

The advent of genomics era has brought a substantial increase in generation of data, knowledge and tools that can be employed in applied research. Candidate genes for important traits can be identified, and exploring functional nucleotide polymorphisms within genes of interest can facilitate breeders in combining favourable alleles. The decoding of the Heinz 1706 tomato reference genome SL2.40 will allow a better understanding of genetic basis of agronomic traits for developing novel genotypes [8, 9]. Genome sequences and genomic tools offer exciting new perspectives and opportunities to track rates of sequence divergence over time, and provide hints about how genes evolve and generate new products by re-organization and shuffling of genomic sequences. Variant catalogues, however, will remain incomplete if forms of variation are undocumented. Good genome coverage is required to improve variant detection and accuracy and to study the polymorphism distribution across genomes. Genetic diversity studies have been improved by Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) based approaches [10, 11]. However, interpreting the effect of genetic variation has typically relied on a reference genome. Indeed, alignment-consensus methods may have serious limitations in describing polymorphic regions and may also cause biases in interpreting the effect of variation on coding sequences. On the other hand de novo assembly approaches may theoretically overcome such problems, but pose a number of challenges due for example to repetitive sequences, low complexity sequences and closely related paralogs [12]. Alternative hybrid approaches can overcome limitations of alignment-consensus methods [13, 14], allowing to capture a broader spectrum of sequence variation comparing genome with or without reference genome [15].

Here we describe the generation and analysis of San Marzano and Vesuviano tomato genome sequences. First, we reconstructed the genomes using a combination of iterative mapping and de novo assembly. Then, we annotated genes and documented the variation discovered, describing the typology and the distribution of variants between genotypes at chromosome level. Finally, as proof of concept we assessed the variability in fruit quality related genes, exploring the quantitative and qualitative impact of functional variants. Data produced can be helpful to investigate the genomic origins of phenotypic variation as well as to perform breeding programs.

In this work the tomato RVS and SM genomes have been sequenced and assembled using a strategy based on iterative mapping and de novo assembly [14]. This method showed to be less demanding in terms of sequencing depth and multiple libraries construction compared to a complete de novo assembly. The catalogue of tomato genetic variants produced using this valuable approach allowed enlarging the list available (http://solgenomics.net/search/markers) with a relative low investment. The magnitude of the number of variants found is not comparable with earlier catalogue, based on transcriptome sequencing or oligonucleotide arrays [28–32]. In addition, other types of variations in CDS sequences were evidenced.

The chromosome pseudomolecules obtained allowed studying with high accuracy genome colinearity useful for gene mapping and marker-assisted breeding. At 40x sequence coverage, we estimated that approximately 99% of the tomato reference genome could be genotyped. Our analysis produced approximately 200,000 SNPs and more than 130,000 indels. In accordance with the high level of homozygosis reported for tomato cultivars [29], a small fraction (approximately 3%) of heterozygous variants or sequence misalignments were identified in either cultivar. Variation in the level of polymorphism among chromosomes was found. Indeed, the chromosome variation could reflect selection history rather than polymorphism discovery [30]. More than 3,000 genes in both varieties showed different similarity values at exon level when compared with reference genome. A slight higher colinearity between SM and the reference genome was found, suggesting a their closer relationship. Genome-wide structural and gene content variations are hypothesized to drive important phenotypic variation within a species [33]. However, in most cases deletions are common to both varieties and their frequency is consistent with previous data on indel errors in the reference genome, and thus we suspect that a percentage of de novo assembled sequences corresponds to sequences missing from the reference genome.

Based on the tomato gene model set, a limited number of altered genes were detected in each variety, while 1,934 RSV and 1,707 SM transferred annotations were affected by mutations potentially causing amino acidic substitutions of unknown effect on the protein function. A subset of these SNPs was restricted to a single variety. The study of distribution of variants across the genomes of the sequenced variety is important. Number, location and predicted effects can gain insights in plant diversification. Indeed, the selective forces acting over time on diverse traits could have driven the fixation of positive mutations in each variety. Whether a polymorphic equilibrium is reached depends on the intensity of selection and the relative distances to the optimum of the homozygosis at each locus [34].

Analysis of genetic variants for quality related genes showed that genes were differentially affected by genetic variants depending on the functional class they belong to, suggesting different degrees of selection for genetic variants underlying biological processes. We also showed that the position of sequence variants influence the functionality of the encoded protein. Functional variants contributing to deletion in 3′UTR and exon, intron_conserved and exon, intron_conserved region were highlighted; by contrast, a limited number of other intronic/esonic variants were identified. SNPs within the gene classes assessed reflect the fruit quality genetic diversity between RSV and SM varieties. High percent of variation and deleterious substitutions has been found in genes belonging to the transcription factor and transcription regulator classes, such as acetyltrasferase, chromodomain helicase and histone linkers. Interestingly, enrichment for a chromatin remodeler like protein ligase SNF2 in RSV genotypes points out the possibility that the phenotypic differences among these three tomato genotype are mainly due to complex mechanisms of gene regulation and cross-talk. Recently it has been showed that important epigenome modifications are associated with ripening process [35]. The ethylene-related gene class also showed a high number of variants and deleterious substitutions, probably due to the large difference in the ripening process of the two tomato varieties with respect to the reference tomato. In particular, an ACS gene showed a deleterious substitution (T82A) in both varieties and three ACS key genes involved in ethylene biosynthesis varied only in RSV. This is a long-storage tomato variety with extended shelf life. Since ethylene control fruit ripening process [36], polymorphisms detected in these RSV genes should be further explored to understand their involvement in delaying ripening process. Ethylene production is regulated by combinatorial interplay of the ACS polypeptides. Understand how the “ACS symphony orchestra” is coordinated will be a big challenge for the future [37]. Finally, the result of SEA analyse indicated a significant enrichment of the cell wall genes. GO terms corresponding to hydrolase, galactosidase, beta-glucosidase and beta-galactosidase, involved in chemicals breakdown activity inside the fruits, showed significant differences in both varieties. In particular, RSV-specific non-synonymous variants were enriched in genes involved in xyloglucan biosynthesis and homogalacturonan biosynthesis. Genes related to fruit texture has been frequent targets for genetic engineering, with the goal of extending shelf life [38]. Future investigations on these genes and ethylene related genes should be achieved. The regulation of texture and shelf life is complex and performing a deeper analysis of variants discovered could allow a better understanding of the relationship between changes in the textural and shelf life extension [36].

The genome sequences reported here and the variants catalogue obtained will be useful to identify the molecular basis of gene complex patterns. Further analysis and functional studies will serve as a basis for understanding trait differences, which will facilitate the identification of markers for genomic marker–assisted breeding. Data produced can be also useful to prioritize mutations to reveal a phenotype. Indeed, large-scale TILLING projects can be used to identify gene of interest saturated with mutations [39]. Collectively, sequence and fine annotation analysis performed can be useful to examine the path from sequence variant to phenotype for improving the utility of the tomato as a model for fruit quality. In addition, the genes we identified that are related to ripening and texture characteristics could be used as target for tomato breeding. The local genomes genotyping is also useful for understanding the genomic features that distinguish modern from traditional varieties. Variants specific for SM and RSV might be explored through a high throughput target re-sequencing approach in other varieties in order to verify that they could represent variants characteristics for these two different tomato typologies.