Tomatoes in the Galápagos are quietly de-evolving

Photo: De-evolved tomatoes from the Galápagos. Photo credit: Adam Jozwiak / UCR. Article by Jules Bernstein, University of California – Riverside. Phys.org – June 24, 2025. Research article: Nature Communications.

On the younger, black-rock islands of the Galápagos archipelago, wild-growing tomatoes are doing something peculiar. They’re shedding millions of years of evolution, reverting to a more primitive genetic state that resurrects ancient chemical defenses. These tomatoes, which descended from South American ancestors likely brought over by birds, have quietly started making a toxic molecular cocktail that hasn’t been seen in millions of years, one that resembles compounds found in eggplant, not the modern tomato. […]

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