Complementation of the tomato gene with its Arabidopsis counterpart demonstrates conservation of the gene function between both species.

The () gene was originally described in Arabidopsis for the characteristic fusion of sepals in the mutant. A tomato line mutated in the putative ortholog gene was isolated in a previous study. The tomato mutant showed facultative parthenocarpy and produced fruits with elevated Brix, revealing the gene as a hopeful resource for crop improvement. To confirm the orthology relationship between the Arabidopsis and tomato genes, the mutant was complemented with either the tomato wild-type genomic fragment or the Arabidopsis sequence of the gene. In both complementation experiments, defective phenotypes of are rescued, albeit to different extents. Recovery of these phenotypes, which include parthenocarpic fruit production, increased Brix, loss of leaflet serration, alteration of bud and petal shape, firmly establishes as an ortholog of the originally described in Arabidopsis. This work indicates that the function of HWS is likely to be conserved in a wide range of plant species.