Current Events 2 - 29/9/10 - Tomatoes That Trick Taste Buds

Tomatoes That Trick Taste Buds

by Stephen Ornes

http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/63519/title/FOR_KIDS_Tomatoes_that_trick_taste_buds

Even though they are officially fruits, they are usually sold, treated and used as vegetables. In fact many people think that they are simply vegetables. Now, their classifying could become even more confusing as Kazuhisa Kato and his colleagues have developed tomatoes which trick your taste buds.  They make you think that sour things taste sweet for about an hour after you eat them. For example if you ate one of these and then ate a lemon within an hour, the lemon would taste super sweet. This could be very helpful for weight-loss. For example you would eat a grapefruit which has vitamins and low amount of calories but it would feel like you are eating sweets. The key to these genetically transformed tomatoes is miraculin. Miraculin is a glycoprotein which is a protein with a carbohydrate molecule attached to it. Miraculin is mostly found in a type of berries which grow in Western Africa. There they are sold as “Miracle Fruit”. These berries are already being used in some parts of the world for weight-losing purposes. People have already thought of planting them in bigger numbers but it would be pretty complicated and could even cause the extinction of the berries if the demands were too high. The scientists have inserted gene of miraculin in the genetic code of the tomatoes. With the genetic code changed, the tomatoes started producing miraculin themselves. In fact, they have produced and amount of miraculin which could be compared to the amount of it in “Miracle Fruit”.  The main advantage of tomatoes is that they can be produced in large numbers in controlled indoor conditions. The scientists will be trying the technique on other fruits and vegetables in the future as well.

I personally find this story very interesting. I’ve heard and read a lot of amazing scientific stories but when I so this I was like “WOW!”.  It is pretty amazing that there are such substances which can totally change your taste. I’m still wondering if this isn’t a bit exaggerated though. It would also be pretty cool if they could actually make sweet lemons using the same method.