Did you know that the taste of those tomatoes that ate our grandparents in his childhood, poorly similar to the taste of those fruits of tomato that we have the opportunity to eat in our time? Tomatoes were more fragrant and tasty.

What's there - they were much more fragrant! In fact, tomatoes because of their exceptional taste and aroma could eat a whole without bread, as now I eat, for example, apples or peaches.

In poor taste modern tomato farmers blame

This was told by a scientist by the name of Alan Bennett (Alan Bennett), dealing with the study of plants in an international team of researchers. Bennett said that they managed to get to the reasons why modern tomatoes lost its original taste and aroma. They took into account the fact that farmers collect tomatoes immature, and focus on those berries (fruit of the tomato, that is, tomato is exactly berry), which have a uniform green.

However, each of us have probably seen green tomatoes that have a light green color closer to the stem becomes dark green. Such tomato farmers believe overripe and not fit for ripening. This approach has led to the exclusion of tomato with a dark color near the stem. And after all these berries form an important genetic component that helps tomatoes to find the sugar content and other pleasant taste substances. Thus, the farmers themselves have led to the fact that modern tomatoes do not have a rich and deep taste.

Modern tomatoes is a genetic mutants

"This is a clear example of the consequences of unintentional interference" - says Harry Kli (Harry Klee) from University of Florida in Gainesville, USA, referring, apparently, the human intervention into nature. In General, grape tomatoes give photosynthetic cellular elements called chloroplasts. Bennett and his colleagues found that tomatoes need the correct version of a particular gene (gene SlGLK2)to chloroplasts were formed properly in the berries. This gene plays a role of instructions, which follow the cells in the formation of molecules.

At the same time, tomatoes, who do not have time to ripen until dark green tops of the trees, contain incorrect version of the required gene. The researchers note that these tomatoes do not have time to develop the necessary amount of chloroplasts. In addition, even those chloroplasts, which are produced, are smaller. In the modern tomatoes contain less sugar and the taste is not as good as before.

Tomatoes also produce certain gases that are responsible for the aroma, typical for these berries. Tomatoes with "wrong" chloroplasts smell much weaker and not so attractive. However, Harry Kli noted that the story about the chloroplast is not the only reason that modern tomatoes are not as tasty as before. Anyway, believe the old, sad sigh, a mouthful of a piece of modern tomatoes, and say: "Yeah, not the tomato went... this is our time!..." .

Source: www.sciencenewsforkids.org