The Sweetest Breakthrough: How Scientists Made Tomatoes Taste Amazing Again

Do you remember the last time you bit into a tomato and it actually tasted sweet and juicy? For many of us, store-bought tomatoes just don’t cut it. But what if you could have your cake and eat it too – or rather, your big, juicy tomato that’s also ridiculously sweet?

The Problem: Bigger Isn’t Always Better

Here’s the thing: over the years, we’ve bred tomatoes to be huge. And while that’s great for production, it’s not so great for taste. In fact, commercially grown tomatoes can be up to 100 times larger than their wild ancestors, which means they’ve lost a lot of their natural sweetness. As Jinzhe Zhang, the lead researcher on this project, put it, “Supermarket tomatoes taste like water. They’re flavorless.”

The Solution: A Tiny Tweak with Big Results

Zhang and his team decided to get to the bottom of things. They compared the genetic makeup of our tasteless supermarket tomatoes with their sweeter, wild cousins. And then, using a powerful tool called CRISPR-Cas9, they made a tiny tweak to just two genes. The result? Tomatoes that are up to 30% sweeter than what you’d find in most stores!

What Does This Mean for You (and the World)?

• Yum! Sweeter Tomatoes for All: No more bland tomatoes!
• Good News for Farmers and Foodies: These new tomatoes are just as big and plentiful as the ones you’re used to, so production won’t take a hit.
• A Game-Changer for Other Fruits and Veggies: This discovery could lead to sweeter, more flavorful produce across the board!

The Experts Weigh In

• Jinzhe Zhang, Plant Geneticist: “We hope our research will bring back the sweetness to your tomatoes!”
• Christophe Rothan, Fruit Biologist: “This study is a significant step forward. It shows us how to tap into the natural diversity of wild plants to create better crops.”
• Ann Powell, Retired Plant Biochemist: “Imagine the possibilities – not just for tomatoes, but for all sorts of fruits and veggies. It’s an exciting time for food!”

By the Numbers

• 186 Million Tonnes: The amount of tomatoes produced globally each year.
• 100x Larger: How much bigger commercial tomatoes are compared to their wild ancestors.
• 30% Sweeter: The increase in sugar content in these gene-edited tomatoes.

Ready for a Taste of the Future?

This research was published in Nature. You can read full article here https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-08186-2