India, March 2 -- C
ould greens get crunchier, potatoes get healthier, and tomatoes calm rattled nerves?
In late 2021, Japanese company Sanatech Seed launched Sicilian Rouge tomatoes that were genome-edited to produce high levels of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), a compound naturally found in the brain. The neurotransmitter has been linked to stress reduction and the lowering of blood pressure. While fruits such as strawberries, lychees and tomatoes naturally contain GABA, researchers gene-edited tomatoes to offer four to five times the amount compared to conventional varieties.
The tomatoes became the first food gene-edited using CRISPR-Cas9 technology to be commercially available in Japan. Also in 2021, Japanese stores began to sell p...