Purple tomatoes with double the shelf life

From www.dailymail.co.uk:

Tomatoes could be made tastier and stay fresh for twice as long, according to a new study.

Scientists say that the antioxidants found in purple GM tomatoes can more than double their shelf life from 21 days to 48 days.

And the natural pigment slows down the over-ripening process that leads to rotting and softening - creating a better taste.

Previous studies on purple GM tomatoes have shown the anthocyanin in the fruit prolongs the life of cancer-prone mice.

Researchers at The John Innes Centre, Norwich, say one way to improve shelf life is to pick tomatoes early when they are still green and induce them to ripen artificially with ethylene, but that results in a loss of flavour.

Another method is to grow varieties that never fully ripen, but these also never develop a full flavour.

In the study for journal Current Biology, anthocyanins were found to slow down the over-ripening process that leads to rotting and softening - achieving a tomato with a long shelf life and full flavour.

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