The present invention provides isolated nucleotide sequences responsible for the tomato high pigment 1 (hp-1) and high pigment 1.sup.w (hp-1.sup.w) phenotypes, wherein said sequences comprises an altered tomato DDB1 gene sequence or fragment thereof, wherein said the alteration in said altered sequence or fragment comprises an A-to-T transversion at nucleotide 931 of said DDB1 gene sequence in the case of hp-1 and a G-to-A transition at nucleotide 2392 of said DDB1 gene sequence in the case of hp-1.sup.w.