Longevity/Shelf-life Killer Genes Discovery from my Tomato Research: Bio-Medical Applications.

World population reaches to 10 Billion in 2050. Food production must double to keep pace with population explosion. Global food security is based upon starch-rich cereals and underestimates the nutritional importance of fruits and vegetables (Alfa, H. H. & Arroo, R. R. J. Over 3 decades of research on dietary flavonoid antioxidants and cancer prevention: What have we achieved? Phytochem Rev. 18, 989–1004 (2019)). These perishable products are nutrient-dense with bioactive phytochemicals; a healthy population globally needs to consume them on regular basis (Saiwal, N., Dahiya, M. & Dureja, H. Nutraceutical insight into Vegetables and their Potential for Nutrition Mediated Healthcare. Curr. Nutr. Food Sci. 15, 441–453 (2019)). However an average of 33% of fruit and vegetables produced globally are never eaten after harvest and in developing countries, post-harvest loss may be as high as 75% (Global Food Losses and Food Waste – Extent, Causes and Prevention. : FAO, 2011 https://www.fao.org/docrep/014/mb060e/mb060e00.pdf ). In USA, 7% of postharvest losses of fruit and vegetables occur on the farm, whereas, 17% nutrient rich products are lost in supply chain, grocery store, Ecommerce and other consumer facing business such as hospitality and Tourism (ReFED,2016). 18% safe and healthy food is wasted by customers at homes (ReFED: 2016: A Roadmap to Reduce U.S. Food Waste by 20 Percent). This data is from powerful and rich country like USA; India has more challenging situation (https://www.foodingredientsfirst.com/news/extended-shelf-life-tomatoes-arcadia-and-shriram-reach-milestone.html ) and may be an opportunity?(https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/arcadias-extended-shelf-life-tomatoes-154238621.html ). Food waste at current rate is not sustainable globally (Porat, R., Lichter, A., Terry, L. A., Harker, R. & Buzby, J. Postharvest losses of fruit and vegetables during retail and in consumers’ homes: quantifications, causes, and means of prevention. Postharvest Biol. Tec. 139, 135–149 (2018))! Tomato food waste denies people health security and contributes to large greenhouse gas emission. Tomato is most popular crop, its Longevity/ Shelf Life has global interests now (https://www.purdue.edu/newsroom/research/2010/100628HandaTomato.html https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6776149/ ).

Francis W. Martin (Genes for Long Shelf Life in Tomato: J. Agric. Univ. Puerto Rico. VOL. 71, NO. 3, 313-321. JULY, 1987) found up to 6 months longevity in tomato fruits with small number of genes responsible. There is one instance of 316 days tomato fruit shelf in Europe. Upon replication next year, often 6-8 months was found in tabulated data (https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpls.2019.01651/full ). Creating a commercial variety from these landraces with varying shelf-life data may likely be 10 years investment. On March 2, 2022, 6 out of 81 yellow skin fruits (7.4%) have completed 18 months of Longevity from 2020 fruits, Never Ever discovered before globally. 2021 yellow skin fruit is following same trend in 2022. No one except me has ever discovered more than 6 months of Longevity/Shelf life in red color tomato fruits of any fruit weight in USA. In my research, such a pronounced phenotypic expression for tomato fruit Longevity points to Major genes. Yes – Major genes/ Mendelian Genetics is profitable for farmers, environment, consumer facing business and consumers as well!

?In 2018, I found loss of Longevity of tomato fruits because whole plant was killed. These plants absorbed water as any tomato plant will for 60 days. Then two V-shaped tomato plants were killed between 60-90 days due to adding 1 inches of water in two weeks. Two tall tomato plants were killed due to addition of 6 inches of water in two weeks at the height of 2018 summer. Other 12 plants remained healthy with water supply. Then in 2021, as white mold disease razed through my research, I decided to withhold water 100%. This gave me an idea number of fruits in first 3-4 weeks flower flush, drought tolerance and disease tolerance under water stress. There were three plants in a pot, two died but, one started flowering even when no water added in 3 months. The night of November 14, 2021 was 39* F in Fremont, California, but this plant was flowering and had one small fruit! Adding 100 ml of water in December 2021, started to kill this plant, so after couple days, had to bring inside- warm and away from sun or shade. That’s because looking closely inside pot I saw… V-Shaped branches! Since Longevity killer genes expressed in multiple years at whole plant level with different gene-pool, my working hypothesis is, “loss of heat shock proteins”, and has application in cancer genetics. Terminal cancer patients such as brain tumor have high heat shock proteins that even chemotherapy can’t destroy. So what’s the protein water adding elicited that made heat shock proteins disappear and my plants started to burn/ dropping in shade in 2018 and 2021? ?Another question I’ve,” If my plants showing phobic or aversion to water first and sun next, are infected with pathogens such as those from TB, Ebola, HIV, SARS virus etc., and start adding either 1 inch or 100 ml water every two weeks after 60 days, then would these plant die or plants will be alive because unable to kill such pathogens or their variants?”??

I now describe genes that not only destroy Tomato fruit’s Longevity in dose dependent form or heavier fruits first, but also turn seeds black or unfertile – likely to require special tissue culture medium because some literature call such seeds as internal BER or Basal End Rot.?I’m designating them Longevity killer genes; probably first one in world for Open Pollinated Tomato Genetics because large number of companies worries about lots of recessive genes in open pollinated tomato gene-pool and don’t want to go there.?A green fruit was harvested from a plant that was first to die from white mold. On November 14, 2021, this fruit turned chocolate brown skin color after turning red, indicating 3 months after harvest. The fruit was mostly ball of water. On 12/01/2021, black seeds were harvested from after this fruit with liquid mess inside. Six fruits were harvested on 8/29/2021 from a disease tolerant plant and their weights in grams were 42, 35, 24, 24, 20, and 19- let’s call P1 fruits. Three fruits were also harvested on same date with weights in grams as 31, 26, and 23 grams- let’s call P2 fruits. ?P1 fruits weights in grams after 3 months were 35, 30, 17, 16, 17 and 19 –in that order. P2 fruits weighed in grams as 24, 19, 18. A picture taken on December 14,2021 shows heaviest fruit (42 grams original weight) had most shrinkage with black spots on bottom and sides as well. Next in higher weight (35) fruit had large black spots on bottom of fruit - Anthracnose rot was first suspicion for these fruits. The 19 grams green fruit after 14 weeks was pictured as yellow fruit. ?Another picture and fruit weights taken on December 28, 2021 show 35 grams original weight P1 fruit was 13 grams. 42 grams P1 fruit had considerable loss of longevity- water inside fruit and larger black spots on all over skin - it was consumed with no side effects. My research notes shows 30 gram grams fruit after 3 months turned into 14 grams on December 14, 2021; lost 16 grams fruit weight in 16 days! And then loss of 1 gram fruit weight only till December 28, 2021 or that P1 fruit now at 13 grams. ?When this fruit was cut open- fungus was found inside! How can fungus be inside when there was no skin damage? Actually there was more fungus and water where fruit had no black skin! In two heaviest fruits all seeds were turned black. Two 24 grams P1 fruits on 8/29/2021 were at 16 grams on 1/16/2022 with no black spots on skin. Pictures taken on 1/15/2022 and 1/16/2022 show one fruit had more shrinkage than other. Upon opening this fruit, picture shows fungus was found in certain area. So they were not as over-active, evident by no sharp decrease in fruit weight over two weeks as found with 35 grams fruit original weight. If left for two more weeks, this fungus phenotype fruit would’ve lost sharp fruit anatomy inside fruit. Important to note is only two heaviest P1 fruits after 45 grams, turned chocolate brown skin color and fungus was found inside fruits. No visible pores to my eyes were found. My working hypothesis is,” genes created microscopic pores that helped fungus and oxygen for passage into seed cavity. Inside fruits, genes created environment for only those funguses to survive that kills seeds first and performs tissue maceration next. That- tissue maceration is a confirmatory step for making sure all 100% seeds are infertile. ” We know fungus secretes enzymes and acids that mineralize rocks into soil. I couldn’t help but wonder role of jumping genes (https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/attack-of-the-killer-tomato-fungus-driven-by-mobile-weapons-package ); discovered by a corn scientist - Barbara McClintock. She won Nobel Prize of Medicine because many cancers manifest jumping genes (https://www.cwhf.org/inductees/barbara-mcclintock ).

The data for P2 plant fruit was taken in November 2021 and December 2021. On January 16 2021, the fruit weights in grams were 21, 17 and 13. The picture posted with this LinkedIn article is from 2/01/2022, 21 gram fruit now from 31 grams original weight was felt phenotypically balloon filled with water. When cut opened, it presented a shocking data: a. all seeds had turned black or non-viable ?b. the seedlings germinating inside the fruit c. seedlings were killed or infertile, e. excessive water with a few seeds compared to inside fruit fungus phenotype, raised suspicion that not only pulp but also some seeds were digested into water. Lightest of three fruits was hard as rock fruit phenotypically but had green seedling germinating inside; vivipary in tomato is found in over ripe fruits (https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/edible/vegetables/tomato/seeds-germinating-in-tomato.htm ), but my pictures show these two tomatoes were far from over-ripe. The fruit 2nd in weight was soft in a few places, dark spot on skin but not water inside, and had green seedlings but a. had lot more seeds than fungus inside fruits, b. majority of seeds were killed or tuned black/ infertile ?c. pictures help conclude pulp digestion happens after killing seedling, and that after destroying seeds first.

Tomatoes and humans share 60% of same genes (https://www.westernfarmpress.com/did-you-know-people-share-many-genes-tomatoes ). Learning them can help creation better pharma drugs at faster pace with help of Biotechnology (https://www.nature.com/articles/nature11119 ). Much of the Tomato Genetics research in last 70 years has been directed towards increasing fruit yield, disease resistance and adaptation to a particular climate.?Genetic engineering in tomatoes has been used for mass produce vaccines for human diseases (https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2006-06/ns-kta062806.php ). Since fruit trees like apple and almond ages, Tomato don’t age- such genes are vital to understanding long term longevity locked in Humans and other biological DNA. It may help us understand what constitutes short vs long life span. In Genetics – plant, bacteria or humans – genes / genetic materials with right observations explain what it is happening before Biotech is applied for why and treatment(s) are found. My data shows even when 9 fruits harvested on same date, it was a dose dependent outcome.?So heavier fruits turned into water ball first, seeds and seedlings killed – with or without presence of fungus.

Since loss of longevity in my research is dose dependent or heaviest fruit’s seeds turned infertile first, it is important to note that millions of women globally suffer from infertility; heavier women have odds stacked against fertility and pregnancy (https://rbej.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12958-018-0336-z ). ?For fungus to be growing within fruit when skin is not damaged, my working hypothesis is,” oxygen was used by fungus to produce CO2 that may have affected negatively to seed vigor.” Effects of elevated CO2 on seed vigor need further research (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23495259/ ). The emphasis was on destruction of seeds or fertility, and hence only so much pulp was dissolved to generate water – helping fungus spread all over inside fruit. ?This may explain why fungus phenotype had some pulp compared to killing seedling phenotype, where both seeds and seedlings were destroyed. In any case, delicate Oxygen and CO2 balance is needed for successful pregnancy and delivery of baby (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22765270/?https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22765270/ ). ?So learn from my tomatoes; which genes need to be silenced by methylation to restore fertility, for example. Scale up fertility treatment and given to women at early age from their DNA profile or likely to have higher BMI genes while following commonly accepted guidelines (https://uihc.org/health-topics/obesity-and-infertility ?, https://healthcare.utah.edu/healthfeed/postings/2017/06/Infertility-obesity.php ).

?Seeds are formed after ovules in ovary are fertilized by pollens, divides by mitosis. ?There are many control points for mitosis; lack of it causes over active cell division or hall mark of cancer. Since in my fruits, female fertility organ is target for destruction earliest in heavy fruits has application in Ovarian Cancer. Compared to light weight, Heavy set women can have higher incidence of Ovarian cancer (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4559823/ ?) and more deadly as well (https://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/29/health/29canc.html ?https://www.cedars-sinai.org/newsroom/obesity-leads-to-more-aggressive-ovarian-cancer-cedars-sinai-research-shows/ ), In my research, heaviest fruit out of 9 lost Longevity by shrinking skin within 3 months, just like weight dependent onset of Ovarian cancer mentioned in esteemed references here. There’s poor understanding of Ovarian cancer (https://news.cancerconnect.com/ovarian-cancer/obesity-linked-with-increased-risk-of-ovarian-cancer ) and my tomatoes can offer good model to find why light weight?fruits harvested on same day as heavy fruits have seedlings growing and no seeds damaged, whereas in heavy set fruits seeds are killed first and seedlings next. Just as a person close to dying from cancer has most proteins turned into water, heavy set fruits had lot of water, whereas light weight fruits were tight as golf balls. Just as Ovarian cancer has Ontogeny or earlier stages are difficult to detect but easy to save patient’s life, my lightest weight tomato was hard as rock and difficult to guess that longevity was at risk. But the seedlings growing inside can be saved on targeted tissue culture medium. That means heavier tomatoes need to be given light weight fruit attention; detect them at early, seedling stage. So these tomatoes may serve as model to understand ovarian cancer better for Higher BMI women and could help such patients with early stage ovarian cancer diagnosis frequently. I’ve fruits, seeds and seedlings saved up for tissue culture research later. One out of 6 P1 fruit turned out to be yellow with black stripes found on one out of three P2 plant seeds and seedling longevity killer genes. Over the months, this fruit is losing brightness of yellow color... It holds ton of mysteries for sure!

I’m honest, sincere and hardworking; became fearless while studying in India. I did try this line of research in Alabama as red soil entrepreneur and failed. I failed again in South Dakota, so published something else. So when my Tomato Genetics research in Minnesota Community Plot (2010) started, I had matured into – “Experience is just another name for Failures are pillars of success”. Tomatoes are $260 Billion crop globally. I believe no one in world has kind of open pollinated seed bank that I’ve. This research since 2020 is based upon 100 seeds. Imagine what will happen if all 100,000+ seeds in my seedbank are exploited. It will contribute to lot more economic impact than $260 Billion! Last but never the least- many people underestimate Mendelain Genetics and that’s a mistake (https://systemsbiology.columbia.edu/news/connections-found-between-mendelian-diseases-and-cancer ).