Rotten tomatoes no more:ย growing sweeter tomatoesย is possible by editing just two of the fruitโs genes. Deleting the genes increased the engineered fruitsโ glucose and fructose levels by up to 30% over mass-produced tomatoes, according to a studyย published today inย Nature.
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This study is โgreat and significant in its field and beyondโ, says Christophe Rothan, a fruit biologist at the French National Institute of Agricultural Research in Paris, who was not involved in the study. It raises the โpossibility of using the great genetic diversity existing in wild species, which has been partially lost in domesticated varieties, to improve modern varietiesโ, he says.
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The new tomato would be welcome not only because it would make consumers happy, but also because it could cut the amount of time, energy, and money that goes into preparing other products such as tomato paste, which involves removing water from the fruit, says Ann Powell, a retired plant biochemist who previously worked at the University of California, Davis.
