Purple Anthocyanin producing tomatoes GMO.

[Fusion_power]

We already have bioluminescent tomatoes. At least in labs.

Just so we are all on the same page folks, I am an ardent supporter of "Conventional" breeding of veggies including tomato to improve their health benefits to us when we consume them. I am not in favor of GMO's at this time because of the risks involved. I will stipulate one possible exception for the golden rice that was engineered with a daffodil gene to increase its content of vitamin A. I'm not convinced that it is safe, but am satisfied that the reason for making it in the first place was a worthwhile goal.

For tomatoes, we have at least 3 genes that could possibly be combined to some advantage.

1. High vitamin A content as found in 97L97 (40X), Caro Rich (10 to 20 X), and Caro Red (6 to 10 X).

2. High vitamin C content as found in Doublerich.

3. High anthocyanin content as found in P20 and several numbered accessions available at TGRC.

What would it be like to have a tomato with 40 times the provitamin A, twice the vitamin c, and anthocyanins?

The problem is that this would most likely result in very poor flavor.

I'm waiting for a tomato spliced to a squid

What do you want? a plant that squirts jets of tomato juice at your eyes?

DarJones

[Douglas14]

I agree with Tom(tjg911).
I think for health conscious poeple, the antioxidents would be appealing. I would think growing purple tomatoes would be much easier for me to grow than blueberries. My soil isn't acidic enough for blueberries to thrive. Also blueberries typically take a few years to come into bearing.
At this point, I'd like to keep GMO's out of my garden. I'm a big fan of conventional breeding.

[dice]

We have a local wild huckleberry that probably has high
anthocyanin content. Plants can handle shade and a wider
range of pH than blueberries. (I have sprinkled wood ash on
their bed in winter or spring. They never blinked, showed
any chlorosis in the leaves, etc, from something that commonly
puts azaleas and rhodendrons into a funk that they need iron
and sulfur to recover from.)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaccinium_ovatum

Blackberries, bilberry, and elderberry are also likely
sources of anthocyanins.

Note that lycopene, found in ordinary red/pink/yellow/orange
etc tomatoes is an antioxidant, too, and would provide
protection to one's cells similar to that provided by
anthocyanins (although I seem to remember reading
somewhere that anthocyanins are "one of the best
antioxidants found in nature" or something to that effect).

[Tormato]

Originally Posted by Fusion_power

We already have bioluminescent tomatoes. At least in labs.

Just so we are all on the same page folks, I am an ardent supporter of "Conventional" breeding of veggies including tomato to improve their health benefits to us when we consume them. I am not in favor of GMO's at this time because of the risks involved. I will stipulate one possible exception for the golden rice that was engineered with a daffodil gene to increase its content of vitamin A. I'm not convinced that it is safe, but am satisfied that the reason for making it in the first place was a worthwhile goal.

For tomatoes, we have at least 3 genes that could possibly be combined to some advantage.

1. High vitamin A content as found in 97L97 (40X), Caro Rich (10 to 20 X), and Caro Red (6 to 10 X).

2. High vitamin C content as found in Doublerich.

3. High anthocyanin content as found in P20 and several numbered accessions available at TGRC.

What would it be like to have a tomato with 40 times the provitamin A, twice the vitamin c, and anthocyanins?

The problem is that this would most likely result in very poor flavor.


What do you want? a plant that squirts jets of tomato juice at your eyes?

DarJones

Close, Darrel, close.

If I ever make it to La Tomatina, I want to be well armed.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_monster

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomatina

A bit of a thread drift. It must be getting close to Halloween.

Gary

[Tormato]

dice,

Do you have highbush or lowbush huckleberries? I've only seen lowbush ones around here. Its berries are insipid.

Gary

[annecros]

I think the whole thing comes down to - Why would I want to eat a tomato that tastes like a vitamin, if I could just take a vitamin and be done with it?

I am probably speaking from an overnourished point of view though. I have enough tomatoes to OD on some of these nutrients. Some people don't have that option. Somehow, I don't think eating crappy tasting tomatoes would induce an individual to eat the tomatoes, unless they are literally starving.

Almost seems mean. I wish they could just grow more tomatoes.

[Raymondo]

As far as golden rice is concerned, I applaud the sentiment of trying to develop a healthier rice, but you have to eat a lot of it to get even a reasonable Vitamin A hit so it didn't really work out. So far, I see nothing coming out of labs that benefits anybody or anything apart from the corporate bank accounts.
Tweaking genes within a single species is one thing but personally, I find the idea of transgenics disturbing. I can't help feeling that there is something fundamentally wrong with the idea of taking fish genes and putting them in corn!

[dice]

[highbush or lowbush huckleberries]

I don't know them by either of those names. People generally
refer to huckleberries that grow wild out here as "blue" or
red" (although the page at the URL below from Evergreen
mentions three types; vaccinium ovatum are the blue ones
that I have and vaccinium parvifolium are the tiny red ones;
both get to 4 meters high):

http://academic.evergreen.edu/projec...m-30jun04.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaccinium_parvifolium

In my opinion, the blue ones have more flavor, plus the fruit of
the red ones are so tiny that collecting even a handful to eat
is an annoyingly time-consuming process. (It is good to know
that they are edible in case one gets lost on a hike in the
woods, but other than that, not worth the effort.)

I have seen highbush and lowbush blueberries (different
members of the vaccinium family than what grow wild
on the Pacific Coast) mentioned elsewhere, though.
Remembering picking them at local farms, I would say
that the local commercial berry farmers out here all grow
highbush blueberries.

[newatthiskat]

How about the V-8 splash that contains Bluberries, pomegranate, and various vegtables. Yummy! That way youget a full mix of antioxidents and it tastes very good in my own opinion.
Kat

[Tormato]

Dice,

Here in the northeast, huckleberries are Gaylussacia not Vaccinium.

G. dumosa - Dwarf Huckleberry (black, tasteless fruit)
G. baccata - Black Huckleberry (black fruit)
G. frondosa - Dangleberry (dark blue fruit)

Vacciniums are the blueberries, cranberries, and deerberry.

Gary