It will
hybridize with common domestic tomatoes. There are
annual,
biennial, and
perennial varieties.
Solanum pimpinellifolium is important in tomato breeding. Its relatedness to tomatoes and ability to freely cross with them has allowed it to be used for the introduction of disease resistance traits in tomato varieties, as well as in the study of the genetic control of tomato traits such as fruit shape and size. Its 900
Mb genome differs from the tomato at 0.6% of
base pairs; in comparison, they both differ from the
potato (from which they diverged 7.3 million years ago) at 8% of bases. Considered the ancestor of domesticated tomatoes, it is valued for supplementing the limited
gene pool of the domestic tomato. Due to agricultural development, the wild currant tomato is becoming less prevalent in the
native range of northern Peru and southern Ecuador. In addition, seed collection is hampered by issues with the
Convention on Biological Diversity. ==References==