Salad days - tomatoes that last longer and still taste good

The tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) is one of the most valuable fruit crops in the world with an annual global value in excess of $50bn. We eat so many they also play an important role in our diet providing valuable vitamins, minerals and health promoting phytochemicals. Plant breeders are working continuously to supply high yielding, better tasting, more nutritious and longer lasting tomato varieties, but some of the best tasting varieties soften rapidly and can have a short shelf life. The precise mechanisms involved in tomato softening have remained a mystery until now. Research led by Graham Seymour , Professor of Plant Biotechnology in the School of Biosciences at The University of Nottingham , has identified a gene that encodes an enzyme which plays a crucial role in controlling softening of the tomato fruit. The results, published today, Monday 25 July 2016, in the academic , could pave the way for new varieties of better tasting tomatoes with improved postharvest life through conventional plant breeding. The TomNet study was carried out by Professor Seymour in collaboration with Professor Paul Fraser at Royal Holloway, University of London.