Posted on 06/07/2016 11:47:51 AM PDT by Red Badger
The researchers think it is likely that most flowering plants, or angiosperms, contain similar sucrose-susceptible genes, making their “sweetening technology” widely applicable. Credit: Cienpies Design
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Previous research has shown that the sugar sucrose plays a role in controlling key fruit genes involved in sugar metabolism. Efforts to control these genes succeeded in increasing the sugar content in fruit but also resulted in stunted growth.
Researchers from Tohoku University in Japan used a bioinformatics search tool to find nucleotide sequences in the tomato genome similar to a known tobacco gene sequence that can be repressed by sucrose. When a special coding sequence on the tobacco gene, called a uORF, is removed and the main sequence is made to overexpress, the gene activates several other genes involved in sugar metabolism, ultimately increasing sucrose levels in tobacco leaves. When the uORF is not removed, an overexpressing gene will increase sucrose content in the tobacco leaves but only up to a point. The increased sucrose represses the uORF, which in turn represses the main part of the gene, limiting its ability to further increase the fruit's sucrose content.
Two genes with very similar sequences to the tobacco gene were identified in the tomato plant by the researchers' bioinformatics search and their uORFs were removed. The main gene sequence was placed under the control of another gene, called E8, to express the target gene. The modified DNA was then inserted into tomato plants. The resulting tomato lines were found to have 50% more sucrose than normal tomatoes and showed no growth retardation. In addition to sugar metabolism, the tomato gene also affects genes involved in amino acid metabolism. The researchers found that levels of several amino acids were higher in the transgenic tomatoes.
Based on their results, the team is now developing a new modified DNA sequence containing 2A11, which functions during more of the fruit's development than E8, they say.
The researchers think it is likely that most flowering plants, or angiosperms, contain similar sucrose-susceptible genes, making their "sweetening technology" widely applicable.
We don’t need sweeter tomatoes.
Meh. I’m sweet enough, LOL!
Garden Ping to Greeneyes!
Sweet? That’s not a flavor that I’d associate with sliced, raw tomatoes. They’re supposed to be sort of tangy.
“You’d better watch out
For the eggplant that ate Chicago
For he may come and eat your city soon”...
I don’t like the idea of GMOs-I grow my own tomatoes and other veggies and herbs-no inorganic pesticides, etc-I wouldn’t like a sweet tomato-the non-sweet, rich and sharp veggie flavor of a vine ripened tomato is like warm sunshine-and basil and other herbs and condiments blend with it so well...
The reason modern, mass produced foods are sweet is because they are devoid of other flavors.
Adding sugar is the food processing industry’s primary method to make bland food palatable.
What I take from this story is: “we grow lousy tasting tomatoes, so we’re going to add sugar to them to make them edible.”
Thanks for the ping. I prefer heirloom tomatoes. Since Dr. only allows me 50g of Carbs per day plus all the greens such as lettuce I can stand, I don’t need a sweeter tomato.
With all the sugar laden food at the grocery, I suspect other people don’t either. Gave up all added sugar in 2009, along with soda. I drink unsweetened tea, unsweetened lemonade-don’t use artificial sweetener either.
Just gradually cut back, and taste buds adjusted. Can’t stand to drink a soda now - too sweet.
My favorite meal growing up: Pinto Beans, Corn, fried taters with ketchup, sliced home grown tomatoes, cornbread and loads of butter. High carbs - no doubt of it.
I agree and join you we are sweet enough! LOL
Agree. Commercial agriculture is concerned more with production than with taste. They could grow better-tasting varieties, but not if they grow more slowly or produce less fruit.
I miss the non-hybrid tomatoes that had acid in them that made pimples in your mouth by midsummer when you had eaten them every day for weeks.
Tomatoes don’t taste the same anymore. They are bred and selected for everything except how they taste.
They can’t stop complaining that 1/3 of Americans are obese, because we eat too much sugar and not enough vegetables.
Now they want to put sugar in the vegetables?!
Because we’re not fat enough apparently?
A lot of places add way too much sugar to their tomato sauce.
It always amazes me when people buy their tomato sauce in cans or jars. It really doesn’t take long to make, and it tastes so much better.
No thanx. I think I’ll just stick with my heritage seeds.
it’s just interesting that they’d take something considered fairly healthy...and add sugar.
As I said, apparently they don’t think we’re fat enough yet.
There are PLENTY of ‘sweet’ tomatoes on the heirloom/open-pollinated market already. Breeders are adding more every year.
Sugars in some form are added to processed foods so people will buy more of the unhealthy nutrition-poor crap-without anything added, packaged/processed food tastes like Styrofoam. Makes just as much sense as the stupid food pyramid-when they figured out it was wrong, they changed it-and it is still wrong-it emphasizes too many carbs-again...
I wasn’t brought up eating processed frankenfood, and I’m not going to eat in now unless I’m in danger of starvation...
That’s what they do here in East Tennessee...night before a frost in late fall; farmers send the illegals out into the fields to pick all the green tomatoes they can find. Then the unripe ‘maters are subjected to the gas on the truck so they are ‘ripe’ when they arrive at market. Enjoy.
There are very few store sauces that do not contain sugar, fructose, high fructose corn syrup, whatever...Classico has one variety that I have found that does NOT contain a sweetener...most others are very high end sauces (made by NY mobsters and so forth...with the ‘Hoffa meatballs...YUM!)
I don’t want tomatoes that taste like candy. Really, does EVERYTHING have to taste like candy? I guess diabetes causing tomatoes are unavoidable. grrr.
I used to haul tomatoes from Florida to California. We would stop at a state facility in Gainsville to change them from green to red in 30 minutes. They were the worst tasting tomatoes you would ever eat but Californians would buy them. They were rock hard, bitter, juiceless. Yuck but it paid the bills.
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