The pink gene
Thursday, January 21, 2010 - 11:56
in Biology & Nature
Far Eastern diners are partial to a variety of sweet, pink-skinned tomato. Dr Asaph Aharoni of the Weizmann Institute's Plant Sciences Department has now revealed the gene that's responsible for producing these pink tomatoes. Aharoni's research focuses on plants' thin, protective outer layers, called cuticles, which are mainly composed of fatty, wax-like substances. In the familiar red tomato, this layer also contains large amounts of antioxidants called flavonoids that are the tomatoes' first line of defence. Some of these flavonoids also give the tomato cuticles a bright yellow cast - the colour component that is missing in the translucent pink skins of the mutants...