New, genetically modified purple tomato may hit US grocery market stands next year

[IcyPeas]

It tastes like a tomato, smells like a tomato, and even looks (mostly) like a tomato. There's just one catch: It's purple.

The USDA has approved a genetically modified purple tomato, clearing the path for the unique fruit to be sold in American stores next year.
...
The approval moves the purple tomato one step closer to widespread distribution. In addition to its unique color, the purple tomato also has health benefits and a longer shelf life than garden variety red tomatoes, scientists say.
...
Martin worked on pigment production in flowers for over 20 years, she told CNN. "I wanted to start projects where we could look and see whether there were health benefits for this particular group of pigments," she said.

The pigments that drew Martin's interest are anthocyanins, which give blueberries, blackberries and eggplants their rich blue-purple hues. With funding from a German consortium, she decided to engineer tomatoes that were rich in anthocyanins, hoping to "increase the antioxidant capacity" of the fruits.
...
The results were "stunning," she said. Cancer-prone mice that ate the purple tomatoes lived around 30% longer than those that ate normal tomatoes, according to the study.

https://abc7.com/purple-tomato-genetically-modified-fruit-usda/12237261/

[Donkees]

1. Grew these "Indigo Rose" a few years ago, and don't recall them having much flavor

[ProfessorGAC]

2. I've Heard That, As Well

Friend of my wife's has a passion for gardening tomatoes.
She had some of these & said they were fine for sauces, but not something you'd slice for a salad or sandwich.
She gave us a few. I thought they were low acid & not very sweet.

[Donkees]

4. To further improve the flavor... other plant breeders took the idea to another level

Short History of Blue Tomatoes

So where did these blue tomatoes come from? The first commercially available blue tomato called 'Indigo Rose' was developed at Oregon State University by Dr. Jim Myers. He found wild tomatoes growing in Peru and on the Galapagos Islands that contained high amounts of anthocyanin. After 12 years of breeding and cross-breeding the wild blue species (which were not very tasty) with red tomatoes he was able to create an edible blue tomato with all the added health benefits of anthocyanin.

To further improve the flavor of blue tomatoes, other plant breeders took the idea to another level and crossed 'Indigo Rose' and other blue tomatoes grown at OSU with heirloom varieties known for their great flavor. Now there are lots of blue varieties available in the marketplace.

https://www.almanac.com/blue-tomato-varieties-delicious-and-extra-nutritious

[Farmer-Rick]

3. You can get purple tomatoes that aren't GMO

Baker's Creek that sells rare heirloom open pollinated, non-hybrid, non GMO seeds, only, has one called Black Beauty.

https://www.rareseeds.com/black-beauty-tomato

There ok taste wise. I think some of those multi colored grape tomatoes are much better. They are easier to grow, look like red marbles and some look like a work of art. They taste sweet and hold up to insects. Though blight is a problem for every tomato in the US. Some though are resistant to blight too.

You don't need GMO to get purple tomatoes.

[Scrivener7]

5. Tomatoes have already been modified so that they have no flavor, might as well

make them colorful.

[Brother Buzz]

6. NewHendoLib (NRaleighLiberal) - Craig LeHoullier, DU's resident tomato guru has some thoughts

Responding to an earlier thread on this genetically modified purple tomato

https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=17158454

NewHendoLib (56,844 posts)

18. oh boy. I had a feeling this was coming. I was aware this was in progress for some time. My thoughts

Are complicated.

First - as to "purple" tomatoes -

the heirloom purple or chocolate tomatoes - Cherokee Purple, Cherokee Chocolate, Black Krim, Black from Tula, Black Cherry - all get their distinct color from retention of chlorophyll after ripening - the green over crimson deepens the color and makes the tomatoes appear purple (clear skin over dark flesh), or brown (yellow skin over dark flesh). There is no distinct nutritional advantage of these tomatoes - they are just really interesting in appearance and many are delicious. The first of these in catalogs was Purple Calabash (listed in a few catalogs in the mid 1900s). Cherokee Purple seemed to originate in eastern Tennessee in the late 1800s, Black Krim was first offered by a Swedish seed saver in 1990 (I had both growing in my 1990 garden).

the anthocyanin skin tomatoes started with a tomato from the USDA gene bank - it is also known as Oregon Blue P20 (a breeder at Oregon State worked with it a bit to use for breeding) - it ended up in catalogs as Indigo Rose. Where the tomato is exposed to the sun a dark black blue coloration happens - it is in the skin only, and as the article says, the unique dark color does not make it into the flesh. Breeders have gone wild with these - there are all sorts of "black" tomatoes of various shapes and sizes. It isn't clear how helpful the anthocyanins are health wise from these tomatoes. My main complaint is that they have an "off flavor" - I've not had a delicious one yet.

Both of the above are traditional breeding - no engineering of genetics took place to create them.

The tomato in the article is the first - I don't find GMO a useful term (hell - we are GMOs = as soon as our parents had sex, the genetics were modified - mixed - to create us - the offspring). It is GE - Genetic Engineering - that inserts genes from other species into the host.

As for my views - first, there really isn't confirmed data on what this does for us health-wise, so I fear this is going to end up being another way to captivate the consumer and charge a premium.

As a seed saver/preserver of non=hybrid varieties, having a GE tomato "out there" is risky. If it is grown in gardens with other tomatoes and the bees decide to do a cross pollination, those genes end up in another variety. What happens then? What are the unintended consequences for pollinators?

I am not at all anti-progress - hell, I am a scientist (though not a botanist or geneticist - I am a chemist). But I am an avid seed saver and work to keep our genetic heritage available - and pure (uncrossed). It has already gotten messy enough - when ordering a particular variety from a given seed company, there is a chance that you don't get what you expect.

Anyway - that's enough for now. There actually was a GE tomato produced decades ago - Flavr Savr - but it wasn't widely accepted and left the market.

My other opinion - just because we CAN do something, doesn't mean that we absolutely SHOULD. When profit is involved I start to get suspicious!


From 2004 until Feb 2021 I was NRaleighLiberal. We moved, and name change amnesty happened - hence the new name!

.........................................


Here is the NPR story on how DU's NRaleighLiberal discovered and promoted the Cherokee Purple:

http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2013/08/12/211372152/how-a-seed-saver-discovered-one-of-our-favorite-tomatoes

by ELIZA BARCLAY August 14, 201312:31 PM ET

Sherry Shiesl Tatiana's TOMATObase

Fortunately for those of us who are suckers for novelty, every year fruits and vegetables seem to come in more bewitching colors, shapes and flavors. Lately, we've been tickled by the cotton candy grape and the vibrant orange Turkish eggplant. (Egg yolks can be ghostly white, too, but that's another story.)

If you go to the farmers market this time of year, tomatoes are strutting their stuff in all sorts of glorious and quirky hues: green striped, white, pink, even purplish-brown. They boast intriguing names, like Mortgage Lifter, Arkansas Traveler and Pink Berkeley Tie Dye. Some are true heirlooms, passed down over decades or centuries. Others are brand new to the world, the progeny of the latest cross-breeding experiments.

We got to wondering just who, besides farmers, is to thank for this expanding panoply. And we learned that while there are many professional breeders tinkering with the desirable traits that show up in the new varieties, amateur breeders — passionate seed savers and collectors — also play a vital role in discovering fruit and vegetable varieties guarded and nurtured by families over generations. Every now and then, these amateurs convince seed companies that the rest of the world will want to enjoy something they've discovered.

Craig LeHoullier, a retired chemist from Raleigh, N.C., can take credit for introducing us to the Cherokee Purple tomato, one of the most popular heirlooms grown and sold today. You'd be forgiven if your first impression of this fruit, with its ungainly bulges and tones of brown, green and purple, was dismissive. But its flavor consistently knocks socks off, with its balance of sweet, acid and savory — even a hint of smoke.

FULL story at link.

[IcyPeas]

7. Thanks. Thanks for the other thread too.