Report of the Tomato Genetics Cooperative Number 52 – September 2002 University of Florida Gulf Coast Research and Education Center 5007 60th Street East Bradenton, FL 34203 USA Foreword The Tomato Genetics Cooperative, initiated in 1951, is a group of researchers who share an interest in tomato genetics, and who have organized informally for the purpose of exchanging information, germplasm, and genetic stocks. The Report of the Tomato Genetics Cooperative is published annually and contains reports of work in progress by members, announcements and updates on linkage maps and materials available. The research reports include work on diverse topics such as new traits or mutants isolated, new cultivars or germplasm developed, interspecific transfer of traits, studies of gene function or control or tissue culture. Relevant work on other Solanaceous species is encouraged as well. Membership currently stands at approximately 200 from 34 countries. Requests for membership (per year) US$15 (plus $5 shipping if international)--should be sent to Dr. J.W. Scott, Gulf Coast Research and Education Center, 5007 60th Street East, Bradenton, FL 34203, USA, [email protected]. Please send only checks or money orders. Make checks payable to the University of Florida. We are sorry but we are NOT able to accept cash, wire transfers or credit cards. Cover photo provided by Roger Chetelat: With Charley Rick’s passing we have lost one of the great pioneers of tomato genetics who was instrumental in forming the Tomato Genetics Cooperative. Below is an obituary written by his son highlighting some aspects of his life and career. It is followed by an article written by Dick Robinson in 1982 (TGC 32:1-2) that outlines the early history of the Tomato Genetics Cooperative and Dr. Rick’s critical role in its development. I know everyone involved in tomato genetics and/or breeding has admiration and respect for Charley because of his wisdom, accomplishments, and his friendly demeanor. The main reason I have taken on the editorship of the TGC was because I considered it an honor to carry on one of Charley’s legacies. - J.W. Scott Rick taught and mentored generations of U.S. and international scientists in plant genetics. His students went on to lead major research institutes, serve as ministers of agriculture and other governmental roles, and become faculty at universities on every continent. They have worked on studying and improving many major crops, including rice, grapes, potatoes, and peppers. His children continued in academics; his daughter Susan Baldi teaches anatomy and physiology at Santa Rosa Junior College, and his son John is an archaeologist at Stanford. Three grandchildren and a great grandchild were his greatest joys in his last years. TGC HISTORY Reprinted from TGC Report No. 32, 1982 A HISTORY OF THE TOMATO GENETICS COOPERATIVE R.W. Robinson Two graduate students at the University of California at Berkeley, Don Barton and Allan Burdick, met in the early summer of 1949 with Charley Rick, geneticist at the Davis campus, for one of their periodic stimulating discussions on tomato genetics. Their doctoral research on cytogenetics of the tomato had given them an appreciation for the value of an organization to exchange information on tomato genetic research, stimulate linkage studies, and preserve and distribute germplasm, and they urged Rick to consider founding such an organization. The proposal was further discussed by Burdick, Barton, Rick and others with a common interest in tomato genetics during a scientific meeting in 1950, probably at the annual meeting of Genetics Society of America at Columbus, Ohio. The proposal was received with so much support and enthusiasm that Rick consented to be Chairman of the Tomato Genetics Cooperative, which was founded in 1950. The first Report of the TGC was issued in 1951 by C. M. Rick, who served as editor from then until 1981. The membership of the TGC has grown from 87 in 1951 to 354 thirty years later. It is largely through the efforts of C. M. Rick that the TGC has become such a useful and renowned publication. The activities of the TGC are directed by the Coordinating Committee. Members of the original Coordinating Committee were C. F. Andrus, D. W. Barton, W. H. Frazier, H. M. Munger, and, as chairman, C. M. Rick. Rick continued to serve as chairman of the Coordinating Committee for 32 years. Others who have served on the Coordinating Committee include A. B. Burdick, L. Butler, W. S. Barham, G. B. Reynard, A. L. Harrison, R. W. Robinson, M. L. Tomes, S. Honma, M. A. Stevens, and E. C. Tigchelaar. It soon became apparent to the Coordinating Committee that gene nomenclature rules were needed for the tomato. The Coordinating Committee appointed a committee on nomenclature, consisting of D. W. Barton as chairman, L. Butler and J. A. Jenkins. The Nomenclature Committee formulated nomenclature rules for tomato mutants, chromosomes, and chromosomal aberrations. The original nomenclature rules were published in TGC 3, and supplemental rules were given in TGC 4, 9, 17, 20, and 23. The Gene List Committee was given the assignment of compiling and publishing lists of known tomato genes and revising gene symbols when necessary to conform with nomenclature rules. The first gene list, prepared for TGC 4 by chairman L. Butler, D. W. Barton, P. A. Young, and C. M. Rick, included 108 tomato genes. The gene list more than doubled in the next five years; 172 additional genes were included in the list in TGC 9. The gene list has continued to expand, with 99 new genes added to the list in TGC 12, 146 for TGC 17, 88 for TGC 21, 51 for TGC 23, and 93 additional genes for the list in TGC 29. The number of tomato genes has grown so large in recent years that there was a need to categorize them, to classify them into different groups for the convenience of researchers interested in locating a particular kind of mutant. The gene list committee, therefore, published in TGC 21 a classification, according to 21 phenotype groups, all of genes known at that time. The first gene lists for the tomato included sources of seed for each gene. Carl Clayberg and later Dick Robinson served as coordinators of the stock-keeping program, assigning volunteers to maintain and distribute seed of each mutant. This system worked well for many years, but became cumbersome as the number of known genes greatly increased and some former stock-keepers retired. The Tomato Genetics Stock Center was established by C. M. Rick in 1976 to solve the problem of preserving and making available germplasm for tomato researchers. The Stock Center published in TGC Reports 27 and 30 lists of accessions of Lycopersicon and related Solanum species being maintained. TGC Reports 28 and 31 included lists of mutants in the collection of the Tomato Genetics Stock Center. Lists in TGC 29 reported other tomato germplasm maintained by the Stock Center, including allozyme variants, multiple gene stocks, linkage testers, translocations, tetraploids, trisomics, and cultivars. For many years, Len Butler coordinated linkage investigations by TGC members. To prevent duplication in research and to ensure that gene mapping was done with each of the 12 chromosomes of the tomato, different chromosomes were assigned to different investigators for linkage testing. In the linkage map published by Rick and Clayberg in TGC 5, 47 genes were mapped on 11 chromosomes. The linkage map prepared by C. M. Rick for TGC 27 included 288 genes, with each of the 12 chromosomes mapped for marker genes and position of the centromere. No history of the TGC would be complete without giving recognition to Dora Hunt, who has had so much to do with editing the Report, helping with membership arrangements, and other work for the TGC. Many others have also contributed to the success of the Tomato Genetics Cooperative, but no one else to the extent of C. M. Rick. It is largely due to his prodigious efforts that the TGC has prospered and the tomato has become the pre-eminent plant species for cytogenetic research. It is a pleasure, on the eve of his retirement, to express gratitude to Charley Rick for the research, service, and inspiration he has provided for tomato geneticists. Professor Charles M. Rick, 1915-2002 Written by his son, John Rick (Stanford Univ., Dept. of Anthropology) Charles M. Rick, Jr., Professor Emeritus of the University of California, Davis and the world's foremost authority on tomato genetics, passed away peacefully in the early morning hours of Sunday, May 5th. Known worldwide for his major scientific contributions as a plant geneticist and botanist, the majority of Charlie Rick’s career focused on the genetic variability of the tomato, especially the wild tomato species distributed widely in western South America and the Galapagos Islands. In addition to the thorough studies of tomato genes and chromosomes, he organized numerous plant-collecting expeditions to the Andes to sample the wide range of genetic variation found in the wild species, but missing from the modern domestic tomato. Crisscrossing this rugged terrain, he managed to document and preserve an amazing diversity of tomato varieties with qualities such as disease resistance that can be bred back into the tomato we know. In his later years, Rick established and directed the C. M. Rick Tomato Genetics Resource Center at the Davis campus of the University of California, which serves as a permanent bank of genetic material for the tomato and other members of the nightshade family. This center distributes seeds to scientists world-wide, and its holdings include genetic varieties that have become extinct in the wild. Born in Reading, Pennsylvania in 1915, Rick grew up working in orchards and enjoying nature study in the Boy Scouts.