Purple Tomato was produced through Agrobacterium tumefaciens mediated transformation of the tomato variety MicroTom with the plant transformation vector pDEL.ROS. The vector was used to introduce the Delila (Del) and Rosea1 (Ros1) genes from Antirrhinum majus which encode transcription factors of anthocyanin biosynthetic genes in tomato. Aim was the increase of the production of the two major anthocyanins in the flesh of ripening fruits.

pDEL.ROS was constructed by insertion of the Del/Ros1-T-DNA into the bacterial plasmid pRK290 and contains the following cassettes:

• the nptII gene cassette (CS-nptII-ECOLX), which is under control of the _ Agrobacterium tumefaciens_ NOS promotor (P-nos-RHIRD) and Ocs3 terminator (T-ocs-RHIRD).

• the del gene cassette (CS-del-ANTMA), which is under control of the Solanum lycopersicum E8 promotor (P-E8-SOLLC) and CMV terminator (T-35S-CaMV).

• the ros gene cassette (CS-ros1-ANTMA), which is under control of the Solanum lycopersicum E8 promotor (P-E8-SOLLC) and CMV terminator (T-35S-CaMV).

Illumina sequencing of the genome revealed single insertion of the Del/Ros1 T-DNA in chromosome 4 as well as the absence of any sequences from vector outside of the T-DNA element. The analysis was performed in the sixth generation advanced from the T0 transformant.

Source: USDA-APHIS regulatory status review 21-166-01rsr