COMPARISON OF VOLATILES AND WAXES IN LEAVES OF GENETICALLY-ENGINEEREDTOMATOES

The essential oils and leaf waxes of several putative somatic hybrid p lants of Lycopersicon esculentum [+] L. hirsutum were compared with th ose of transgenic plants of L. hirsutum and non-transgenic plants of L . esculentum, and also of wild-type L. hirsutum. The latter contained beta-myrcene, 3,7-dimethylocta-1,3,6-triene and a high proportion of u ndecan-2-one whereas the transgenic L. hirsutum and the somatic hybrid s all contained similar proportions of 2-carene and beta-phellandrene, but only traces of alkan-2-ones. Lycopersicon esculentum contained a very low proportion of essential oils and no alkan-2-ones. Hentriacont ane (n-C-31) and 3-methylhentriacontane (anteiso-C-32) were the predom inant components in all the leaf waxes, and a comparison of the ratio between these compounds suggested that the somatic hybrids contained a t least some contributions from both the parent species. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd