Fruit quality of Mexican native tomato accessions and wild relatives

Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) is a crop of global economic relevance.Mexico, as a center of diversification for the species, harbors extensive genetic variability across native wild, semi-domesticated, and cultivated populations, whose potential for genetic improvement remains underexplored.This study assessed the phenotypic diversity of 50 accessions, including 10 wild relatives, based on 14 fruit quality traits.The observed variability reflected evolutionary and domestication patterns, with a morphological and chromatic transition from small green fruits to pigmented and commercially desirable forms.Multivariate analyses-principal component analysis and hierarchical clustering via heatmap-revealed a genetic architecture shaped by the selection of visual and structural traits, while phenotypic correlations highlighted functional associations between nutritional pigments and optical parameters, such as the relationship between total carotenoids and the a * value (green-red axis).Wild relatives and traditional varieties emerged as valuable sources of functional alleles for improving organoleptic and nutritional quality.The genetic independence between external and internal traits suggests feasibility for designing ideotypes that combine yield and quality without phenotypic drag.This phenotypic framework provides a reproducible basis for guiding the targeted introgression of functional alleles into elite backgrounds, with visual traceability and biochemical congruence.