Scientists Breed 'Miracle' Tomato Lines for Mass Production of Miraculin

Miraculin is a glycoprotein, a molecule involved in immune responses of the body. It was first extracted from the miracle fruit (Richadella dulcifica). The taste of miraculin is not sweet but it transforms any sour flavor into sweet taste. Since the miracle fruit can only be planted in tropical countries, scientists have attempted to produce more amounts of miraculin by transferring miraculin's gene to other tomatoes. In the University of Tsukuba, scientist Kazuhisa Kato and colleagues performed molecular breeding of tomato lines for mass production of miraculin indoors.

They crossed the transgenic tomato line "Moneymaker" with a dwarf tomato known as "Micro-Tom." The resulting crossed lines produced more fruit yield and more miraculin than Moneymaker. Furthermore, the tomato's miraculin has a taste-modifying action comparable with the miracle fruit's glycoprotein. It only takes one little tomato to turn off the taste buds' sensitivity to sour taste.

Subscribers of Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry can read the complete article at http://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/jf101874b.