Tomatoes shelf life extended!

Indian-origin scientists in the US claim to have created a new variety of tomatoes...

Indian-origin scientists in the US claim to have created a new variety of tomatoes which can stay fresh for a week longer than usual,after they found a 8220;fountain of youth8221; for the delicious fruits.

A team,led by Avtar Handa of Purdue University,has in fact found that by adding a yeast gene increases production of a compound which slows ageing and delays microbial decay in tomatoes,8217;The Plant Journal8217; reported.

8220;We can inhibit the ageing of plants and extend the shelf life of fruits by an additional week for tomatoes.

This is basic fundamental knowledge that can be applied to other fruits,8221; Handa said.

The organic compound spermidine is a polyamine and is found in all living cells. Polyamines8217; functions aren8217;t yet fully understood.

Handa and Autar Mattoo of US Department of Agriculture had shown earlier polyamines,such as spermidine and spermine,enhance nutritional and processing quality of tomato fruits.

8220;At least a few hundred genes are influenced by polyamines,maybe more. We see that spermidine is important in reducing ageing. It will be interesting to discover what other roles it can have,8221; Mattoo said.

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Savithri Nambeesan,a graduate student in Handa8217;s laboratory,introduced the yeast spermidine synthase gene,which led to increased production of spermidine in the tomatoes.

Fully ripe tomatoes from those plants lasted about eight days longer before showing signs of shriveling compared with non-transgenic plants. Decay and rot symptoms associated with fungi were delayed by about three days.

8220;It increased the quality of the fruit. If a tomato goes to market,people won8217;t buy it if it has started to shrivel. If we can stop that wrinkling,we can extend the market time of the fruit,8221; Handa said.

Mattoo said the finding could have implications for areas that don8217;t often get fresh fruit.

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8220;Shelf life is a major problem for any produce in the world,especially in countries such as in Southeast Asia and Africa that cannot afford controlled-environment storage,8221; Mattoo said.

Handa said tomato growers and possibly other fruit growers could use the finding soon. 8220;We can add this gene to tomatoes or look at natural variation and select the cultivars that already have a high level of this gene8217;s expression.8221;