Novel tomato flavours introduced by plastidial terpenoid pathway engineering

Trends Biotechnol. 2008 Jan;26(1):4-6. doi: 10.1016/j.tibtech.2007.10.004. Epub 2007 Nov 26.

Abstract

Until recently breeding efforts centred on high-yield production while sacrificing flavour and taste quality traits of mass produced food products, such as tomatoes. The recent publication of Davidovich-Rikanati et al. demonstrates the technical feasibility of the genetical engineering of pathways in tomato plants to modify their fruit flavour profile in a proof-of-concept approach. The reported work ranks among an increasing number of reported successful modifications of edible plants with a focus on the benefits to end-consumers.

MeSH terms

  • Flavoring Agents / metabolism*
  • Genetic Engineering / methods*
  • Plants, Genetically Modified
  • Plastids / metabolism*
  • Solanum lycopersicum / genetics*
  • Terpenes / metabolism*

Substances

  • Flavoring Agents
  • Terpenes