Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Scientists Are Using Gene Editing To Create the Perfect Tomato For Your Salad (qz.com)

Posted by msmash on from the sciencing-the-tomatoes dept.

An anonymous reader shares an article: Geneticists are now using technology to isolate the precise genes responsible for excessive branching and flowering, characteristics which lead to less fruit and thus less yield for farmers. In a study published in the journal Cell last week, geneticist Zachary Lippman of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory explains his research team's efforts to fix mutated tomatoes using CRISPR gene editing technology. By identifying the genes associated with undesired mutations, Lippman was able to edit them and suppress their effects. After playing with the plant architecture, Lippman's team was ultimately able to engineer highly productive plants that yielded more of the desired fruit and less of the unwanted flowers and branches. Original research paper; further reading on Nature magazine.

12 of 125 comments (clear)

  1. Perfect Tomato? by hired+killer · · Score: 5, Insightful

    So, the perfect tomato for volume production is also the perfect tomato for your salad? I suppose that might be true accidentally.

    1. Re:Perfect Tomato? by phantomfive · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Yeah, I was hoping to read how they created the most delicious tomato possible. I guess that's harder than just increasing yields.

      --
      "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
    2. Re:Perfect Tomato? by bigfinger76 · · Score: 3, Informative

      they are indistinguishable from what you might obtain from your garden in the late summer

      No, they're not.

    3. Re:Perfect Tomato? by HornWumpus · · Score: 3, Insightful

      AC doesn't garden...obviously.

      --
      John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
    4. Re:Perfect Tomato? by HornWumpus · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Commercial tomatoes are no better in Europe. In both places, the only ripe commercial tomatoes are in cans or roadside stands.

      --
      John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
    5. Re:Perfect Tomato? by mnemotronic · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Yeah, I was hoping to read how they created the most delicious tomato possible. I guess that's harder than just increasing yields.

      Efficient mass production, not flavor and nutritional content, are the goals of this research. The focus is more tomatoes per acre and higher yields on the grocer's shelf. Obviously the resulting tomato replica has to look like a tomato, act like a tomato, taste kinda like a tomato and be more-or-less non-toxic. If it fails the last 2 criteria we'll see if marketing spin it. The tomato, like the consumer, is a product to be manipulated for the profitability of the corporation.

      --
      The Russians have won. They have made the world a cesspool of distrust, greed, fear and hate.
    6. Re:Perfect Tomato? by bluefoxlucid · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Tomatoes are harvested green and shipped. They don't develop the sugars that make them sweet because they're not ripened on the vine. Were they vine-ripened, shipping them to remote states would land you with rotting tomatoes.

      In practice, tomato flavor is related to the distance shipped from the harvesting operation. The logistics to get tomatoes to your table with less time between picking and purchasing are responsible for providing better flavor.

      --
      Support my political activism on Patreon.
    7. Re:Perfect Tomato? by reboot246 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      No, no, no! Put the tomatoes in a paper bag on your countertop and keep them out of the heat and sun. And never, ever put one in a refrigerator.

      There's no way a commercially grown tomato can taste as good as a home-grown heirloom variety. Taste has been thrown out the door in favor of firmness and easier picking. Commercial tomatoes are tough-skinned to be able to stand the picking, handling, and shipping without turning to mush before you buy them. If you don't want to grow your own, then buy from local growers at the farmer's market.

      Until you've had a REAL vine-ripened HEIRLOOM tomato, you don't know what a tomato is supposed to taste like. Heirloom (open-pollinated non-hybrid) are the best you can get, plus you can save the seeds to plant next year.

      I grew up growing tomatoes and have raised thousands of them over the past 50 years. I know of what I speak.

  2. flavor? by PhantomHarlock · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I'm more interested in work being done to bring back flavor in tomatoes, which for some time now have been selected for looks rather than taste.

  3. I saw this movie by rsilvergun · · Score: 3, Funny

    It did not end well. Blood, ketchup everywhere...

    --
    Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
  4. Re:Just say NO by ArmoredDragon · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Why? GMO has been saving lives for decades now. Literally, many people would die without it. And I'm not just talking about starvation, I'm also talking about diabetic patients.

  5. Buyer Beware by JimSadler · · Score: 3, Insightful

    We already have some very poor tomatoes due to genetic alteration. They may do many things but they don't eat well. Apples are now a disaster. I haven't had a decent apple in years. Some are almost like biting into wood. Few have decent flavor. It is now at the point that I don't buy apples as they simply are great looking but lousy eating. The trouble seems to be that the crops are altered to suit production but not altered to enhance enjoyment. Go in a grocery store and try to find a really tart apple. Good luck.