Super-tomatoes are purple

[DocM]

I'd go for them given the antioxidant properties & richer flavor.

http://news.jic.ac.uk/2013/05/purple-tomatoes/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+NewsFromTheJohnInnesCentre+%28News+from+the+John+Innes+Centre%29

The world?s favourite fruit only better-tasting and longer-lasting

Tomatoes, said to be the world?s most popular fruit, can be made both better-tasting and longer-lasting thanks to UK research with purple GM varieties.

?Working with GM tomatoes that are different to normal fruit only by the addition of a specific compound, allows us to pinpoint exactly how to breed in valuable traits,? said Professor Cathie Martin from the John Innes Centre.

The research could also lead to GM varieties with better flavour, health and shelf life characteristics because even higher levels of the compounds can be achieved.

In research to be published in Current Biology, Martin and colleagues studied tomatoes enriched in anthocyanin, a natural pigment that confers high antioxidant capacity. The purple GM tomatoes have already been found to prolong the lives of cancer-prone mice and in the latest findings they also more double the normal shelf life of tomatoes from an average of 21 days to 48 days.

?Post-harvest losses due to rotting are such a serious problem for growers and supermarkets that even an increased shelf life of one day would make an enormous difference to them,? said Yang Zhang, lead author from the John Innes Centre.

One way to improve shelf life is to pick tomatoes early when they are still green and induce them to ripen artificially with ethylene. However, this results in loss of flavour. Another method is to grow varieties that never fully ripen, but these also never develop a full flavour.

In the current study, anthocyanins were found to slow down the over-ripening process that leads to rotting and softening, achieving a tomato with a long shelf life and full flavour. The purple tomatoes were also less susceptible to one of the most important postharvest diseases, grey mould caused by Botrytis cinerea.

Conventional tomatoes can now be screened for their antioxidant capacity. Those found to be highest in antioxidant compounds can be used as parental lines for breeding.

?Our research has identified a new target for breeders to produce tomato varieties that are fuller in flavour, and so more appealing to consumers, and more valuable commercially due to increased shelf life,? said Martin.

The findings could also be applied to other soft fruit such as strawberries and raspberries.

Other varieties of JIC tomatoes high in a variety of compounds such as those found in red wine are being used by Essex company Biodeb to develop a range of skincare products.

Reference

?Anthocyanins double the shelf life of tomatoes by delaying over-ripening and reducing susceptibility to grey mould? by Yang Zhang et al

Funding

The research was supported by EU projects FLORA and ATHENA, a Rotation Studentship from the John Innes Foundation to Yang Zang, the core strategic grant to the John Innes Centre from the BBSRC, an EMBO fellowship, the Fundacion Genoma and the Spanish Ministry of Science and Education.

[thechronic]

Post-harvest losses due to rotting are such a serious problem for growers and supermarkets

Erm...no just for the growers. Supermarkets appear to do extremely well.

[DocM]

Not really - shipping losses are significant enough to matter, plus most market tomatoes are much reduced in flavor vs. the old "Heritage" varieties of years past. Problem is the Heritage tomatoes aren't as pretty (uniform color / shape / size) and spoil sooner than todays varieties. I doubt many of you under 30-35 know what a REAL GOOD tomato tastes like unless hou're growing your own Heritage varieties. This would fix most all of that and make them healthier.

[Torolol]

would this 'Anthocyanins' works for other kind of produce too?

[DocM]

would this 'Anthocyanins' works for other kind of produce too?

Hell yes! Anthocyanins are already found in lots of foods, though the color they show is dependent on the ph; eggplant, cherries, red currants, wild blueberry, black currants & raspberries, chokeberry, purple (aka:"Indian") corn, etc. etc. Engineering it into others just expands a very healthy list of options. Purple cauliflower and carrots are common in our local markets now, though the fact is before the 17th century almost all carrots were purple. The purple bred out around that time, leaving the orange (beta carotene) we see today..

[+Mirumir Subscriber¹]

If tomatoes are a fruit then, technically speaking, ketchup is a smoothie /trollface :rofl:

p.s. eat more GM foods, but then don't be surprised if you can't conceive a child!

[_neutrino Veteran]

There is a guy locally that grows different colored tomatoes. it has something to do with stuff he puts in the soil.

[FloatingFatMan]

There is a guy locally that grows different colored tomatoes. it has something to do with stuff he puts in the soil.

Um no. They're different varieties.

[TPreston]

p.s. eat more GM foods, but then don't be surprised if you can't conceive a child!

Its a conspiracy is that a way >

[Growled Member]

If it ain't red it ain't a real tomato. :p

[Co-ords]

The last thing I need is a genetically manipulated purple tomatoe in my salad!

[Hum]

If it ain't red it ain't a real tomato. :p

I'd give a purple tomato a try -- not saying I'd like it. :p

[Growled Member]

^ I'd not like it just because. :D

[Crisp]

I wouldn't say no. Purple pizza sounds good to me.

Usually we think as the colour red being something to avoid in the wilderness anyway.

[n_K]

I've had purple potatoes and grown purple carrots. I don't like the idea of purple carrots (not sure about the other foods) because they are a one-year produce, i.e. you get no seeds from it and cannot have it grow again the next year without buying more (expensive) seeds.

Purple carrots were very nice, purple potatoes were pretty horrid.

[FloatingFatMan]

Carrots were ALL once purple, until man happened to them. :p

[thechronic]

Not really - shipping losses are significant enough to matter, plus most market tomatoes are much reduced in flavor vs. the old "Heritage" varieties of years past.

Actually while the profit margins of lead supermarkets has increased over the years, farmers have generally paid the cost of their competition, which is why i feel that the real winner in this situation will be the Farmers if they lose less crops.

[IntegralDerivative]

I hate tomatoes(the original reddish-orange one) they taste bad IMO

[DocM]

I love 'em in all their forms, from fried green to fresh - especially in home made hot salsas which I eat a lot of. One of my favorite foods.

[IntegralDerivative]

Carrots were ALL once purple, until man happened to them. :p

Source?

[FloatingFatMan]

Source?

Go learn some agricultural history.

[+Mirumir Subscriber¹]

Carrots were ALL once purple, until man happened to them. :p

But their seeds weren't sterile, were they?

[FloatingFatMan]

But their seeds weren't sterile, were they?

Before man started to cross mutant strains for the orange colour back in the 16th century? Pretty unlikely; they grew wild, so...

[BillyJack]

There are a lot of varieties of tomatoes. Some of the plants grow tall, short, have a few tomatoes or lots, are different colors and flavor. Farmers started to use only certain varieties. Then companies started to genecticly modify them for favorable traits. At least what they think is favorable for them or the consumer. Eventually they are demising the plant. If all farmers are growing a few varieties or one and all of a sudden a bateria evolves that attacks that tomato they may not have anthing to stop that bacteria. That can happen with all plants and animals by the way. Now scientist are realizing they have limited themselves with the GM tomato and are trying to improve it. Here is an artical that says GM tomatos are flavorless. The farmers should always have a variety in order to protect the tomato, their crops.

http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,2118455,00.html

[DocM]

I swear, everyone who can should try to grow a Heritage variety of tomato plant (or five) sometime. Use nothing on it but BT (a natural bacteria spore that kills worms & grubs but is totally harmless) then taste the fruit. HEAVEN!!

Only then do you realize how much is lost with modern commercial varieties, not all of which are GM. You can muck up a line with or without GM.