Cryptic variation alters gene dosage sensitivity to shape inflorescence architecture in tomato

Phenotypic diversity arises in large part from genetic variants at multiple interacting loci, many of which alter gene dosage rather than abolish gene function. Dosage-sensitive variants, which often produce nonlinear phenotypic outcomes, can be exploited to fine-tune quantitative traits for crop improvement using genome editing. However, the phenotypic outcomes of individual variants can differ substantially across genetic backgrounds, as segregating alleles may modulate allelic effects in unexpected ways. Yet, how genetic background shapes gene dosage effects remains underexplored. Here, we show that MADS-box gene dosage effects, which can be used to tune tomato inflorescence architecture