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Regarding the article, I wonder about the taste of a green
tomato which turned red off the vine and was kept for a few
years.

regards
Joel

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-ars-news@sun.ars-grin.gov
[mailto:owner-ars-news@sun.ars-grin.gov]On Behalf Of ARS
News Service
Sent: Tuesday, September 05, 2000 9:31 AM
To: ARS News List
Subject: Tomatoes With Staying Power


STORY LEAD:
Tomatoes With Staying Power
___________________________________________

ARS News Service
Agricultural Research Service, USDA
Tara Weaver-Missick, (301) 504-1619, tmissick@ars.usda.gov
September 5, 2000
___________________________________________

Researchers with the Agricultural Research Service and
Purdue University
have found a way to slow down tomato ripening and improve
tomatoes'
nutritional quality.

If the season is right, a brilliant-red tomato may be
sitting on the table
of ARS plant physiologist Autar K. Mattoo. Although it looks
like it's just
been just picked off the vine, it's probably one of his
genetically enhanced
tomatoes that's been sitting there for weeks.

Mattoo and his collaborators developed a novel way of
slowing down tomato
ripening by introducing a yeast gene that controls this
function in the
fruit.

Living cells, including those of plants, contain genes that
control many
functions. Some genes are "turned on" only at a certain
developmental stage
or in response to an environmental cue. At other times,
these genes are
"turned off." Scientists can use genetic engineering
technology to modify
these genes to turn them on or off at any particular time.

The new transgenic tomatoes have a lycopene content 2.5
times higher than
non-transgenic tomatoes. Lycopene is a carotenoid that may
aid in preventing
early blindness in children, preventing cancer and enhancing
cardiovascular
health.

Traditional breeding allows transfer of hundreds of genes in
a relatively
random manner--good or bad traits are sometimes haphazardly
passed along to
the new plant. With genetically enhanced plants, scientists
know exactly
what's going into the plant and how to monitor it.

Before the new tomato can be made available as a food, it
will undergo years
of rigorous testing for health and environmental safety.

More information on this research appears in the September
issue of
Agricultural Research magazine. The story is also on the
World Wide Web:

http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/AR/archive/sep00/tomato0900.htm

The scientists developed the transgenic tomatoes as part of
a nationwide
effort in horticultural research at ARS, the chief
scientific agency of the
U.S. Department of Agriculture. For more information, visit
the web page for
ARS national programs in Crop Production, Product Value and
Safety:

 http://www.nps.ars.usda.gov/programs/cppvs.htm