A genetically modified tomato has been developed in a bid to keep people healthy. British and Dutch scientists used GE technology to increase the levels of flavonols in the peel of the tomato by up to 78 times. Flavonols are a group of chemical substances that can prevent heart disease and cancer.
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At the Unilever Research centre in Bedfordshire, scientists discovered that the chalcone isomerase enzyme governs the creation of flavonol. This enzyme is in turn stimulated by a gene from the Petunia plant and by implanting this gene, the flavonol level in tomatoes is increased.
The scientists, led by Martine Verhoeyen, are confident that the discovery could lead to an expanded range of functional food products containing tomato. The taste of the fruit was not affected and when the GM tomatoes were processed into paste, 65% of the flavonols were retained.
The research has been published in the Nature Biotechnology journal.
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