Have you ever bitten into a big, red, juicy tomato and found that it was sour or watery on the inside? Scientists are trying to solve this problem by creating tomatoes that are higher in their sugar content without losing size. The tomato, which literally means pulpy berry, has been cultivated for the last 7,000 years. Researchers have discovered that, through the years, farmers have preferred tomatoes that ripen together and are visually appealing, over taste. To support the production boom that took place after World War II, seed companies changed their tomatoes to increase their yield and to make them more pest resistant.
Recently, a team of scientists led by the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences in Beijing has bridged the gap between customer preference for sweeter tomatoes and farmers’ preference for bigger tomatoes and higher yield. Researchers say that this new tomato may be available for sale soon and is already available in some parts of Japan. The question is – how has this been made possible?
The scientists compared the DNA of cultivated tomatoes with those that grow in the wild. They zoned into genes that relate to sugar content and found 2 main genes – the SICDPK27 and the SICDPK26. They both act as “brakes” by regulating and decreasing the number of enzymes responsible for sugar production. Scientists then used clusteredregularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR), a genetic engineering tool[,] to remove these 2 genes from the tomato plants during ripening. The result – a tomato with the same size but with 30% more fructose and sucrose.
Professor Sanwen Huang, the director of the Agricultural Genomics Institute at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Science, said “As farmers want larger tomatoes and higher yield, the consumers want sweeter tomatoes. Our discovery of the sugar brake genes leads to [breeding of a] sweeter tomato without sacrificing fruit size and yield, breaking the negative relationship between yield and quality.”
Something to note – these genetically modified tomatoes produce seeds that are lighter and smaller in number. Researchers state that this should not be a cause of concern, as they are healthy and sprout normally. While these tomatoes are not as sweet as their cherry cousins, further research may change this. This research could help modify the taste of other staples as well – think sweeter potatoes!
Genetically modified foods have their positives and negatives. Currently, genetically modified food costs less than non-modified foods. This is because non genetically modified foods, have additional costs in the form of use of pesticides and repellents. Sweeter as it may be, I’m not sure that this new tomato is worth it, since I personally prefer to keep things natural and home-grown.