Alex Knapp of Forbes reports on a company that is breeding a better tomato.
- Sound Agriculture is using epigenetics, which is the study of changes in organisms caused by gene expression rather than DNA changes, to develop a tomato that tastes fresh and lasts longer.
- The company has developed a way to guide particular genes in the tomato to turn themselves on or off, which allowed Sound Agriculture to create an heirloom tomato that maintains its freshness and flavor for longer.
- Sound Agriculture’s product, Summer Swell, will be launched on a trial basis soon to grocery stores and restaurants.
“What Sound Agriculture did, Bayer explains, was develop a solution made up of pieces of the tomato’s own DNA that, when a plant is alive, helps to guide particular genes to turn themselves on or off. In this case, they selected bits of the plant DNA that regulated the cell walls of the tomato. The company soaked the tomato seeds in this solution as they started to germinate, locking in the gene expression pathway.”
Read the full article here.
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