Tomatoes history

To investigate food preferences by insects or other herbivores, such as deer (Rautio et al. 2008), and the compounds responsible for their choices, these compounds can be added to their diet and tested in feeding bioassays. Here we will add a mixture of phenolic compounds, known as tannic acid, to the diet of homworm caterpillars. The tobacco homworm, Manduca sexta, normally feeds on Solanaceae such as tomato or potato plants. For more on the natural history of this insect, consult the information sheet prepared by the biological supply company that ships these caterpillars. 

How could I [eat it] I knew nothing about that tomato.. . . [Its] life history was a cipher to me. Who planted it Who picked it What kind of soil was it grown in How was it fertilized Irrigated How many people had touched it on its long journey to my kitchen counter How long had it sat in a box Was the hangar, plane, truck, warehouse, cooler it sat in fumigated with noxious chemicals How much fuel had been burned on its way from a field in Chile to... 

Tridecanone/glandular trichome-mediated resistance of L hirsutum f. glabratum PI 134417 to sexta and decemlineata adversely affects an array of parasitoids and predaceous insects that are important natural enemies of the tomato fruitworm, zea. These natural enemies represent a diversity of life histories and are affected by the defenses of PI 134417 in different ways. Because the resistance of PI 134417 decreases the parasitization rates and increases mortality of immatures of the three parasitoid species... 

Peralta IE, Spooner DM (2005) History, (nigin and early cultivation of tomato (Solanaceae). In Razdan MK, Mattoo AK (eds) Genetic improvement of Solanaceus crops tomato. Science Publishers, Enfield... 

Even our pets have legible genetic histories the DNA for dog breeds backs up the stories of how and where dogs were domesticated. We can read the same story now for horses, tomatoes, rice, and more. In most cases, the domestication recorded in the genes changed the shape of different animal species in particular ways. We are part of that same process—the human shape has changed according to the domesticated pattern, as we tamed ourselves. 

ORIGIN AND HISTORY. The modern tomato descended from a wild ancestor, the cherry tomato, native to Peru and Ecuador. It was first domesticated by the Indians in Central America. But it had spread to both North and South America long before Columbus arrived. 

---