An Important Breakthrough Has Been Made in the Research of Tomato Flavor Improvement
In the future, tomatoes are expected to "return" to the familiar taste. Recently, Huang Sanwen's research team from Shenzhen Institute of Agricultural Genomics and Institute of Vegetables and Flowers of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences made an important breakthrough in the research of tomato flavor and quality. The related research results were published in the top international academic journal Science on January 27th.
Tomatoes are the largest vegetable crops in the world. According to the statistics of FAO, the global output value of tomatoes in 2014 was $ 96.28 billion, ranking first among vegetables and fruits. Fresh tomatoes are the main food in Chinese recipes, so their flavor quality is more concerned. However, in recent years, consumers often complain that today's tomatoes have less and less flavor than before. In order to solve this problem, researcher Huang Sanwen and Professor Harry Klee of Florida State University formed a research team of 20 people. After more than four years of collaborative research, the material composition and genetic locus of tomato flavor were finally discovered, which laid the foundation for the improvement of tomato flavor.
According to Huang Sanwen, the research team organized a "tasting group" of 170 people, and conducted many rigorous tasting experiments on more than 100 kinds of tomatoes, and identified 33 main flavor substances that affect consumers' preferences by using data model analysis, including glucose, fructose, citric acid, malic acid and 29 volatile substances, which revealed the material basis of tomato flavor.
The research team further found that the modern breeding process paid too much attention to the quality of products such as yield and appearance, which led to the loss of some gene loci controlling flavor quality, resulting in a significant decrease in the content of 13 flavor substances in modern tomato varieties, which ultimately led to a decline in taste. At present, the research team and breeders have cooperated to cultivate new tomato varieties with increased sugar content, and strive to restore the original rich flavor of tomatoes, so that delicious tomatoes can "return" to people's table as soon as possible.
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