Flounder tomato

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The flounder tomato is part of a modern myth, i.e. a modern saga (fish allergy due to the consumption of tomatoes), with a real background.

Scientific background

In 1991 experiments were published with the aim of protecting tomatoes against frost damage during cultivation and storage. For this purpose, a gene from the arctic flounder was added to the genome of tomato plants ( transgenic organism ). This gene should lead to the production of an anti-frost protein (AFP) in the tomato, which prevents the formation of ice crystals in the flounder.

As a result, fears arose among organized vegetarians that some of the genetically modified tomatoes might be animals. This assumption is particularly dubious because a synthetic gene based on the flounder gene has been added to the tomato genome .

It is particularly interesting that the flounder tomato, like many subsequent experiments, did not protect the modified plants from frost and therefore never came on the market. The fears that led to the modern myth are (so far) unfounded. The first promising results were achieved in 2002 with carrots .

literature

  • Robin Hightower, Cathy Baden, Eva Penzes, Peter Lund, Pamela Dunsmuir: Expression of antifreeze proteins in transgenic plants . In: Plant Molecular Biology . tape 17 , no. 5 , November 1991, pp. 1013-1021 , doi : 10.1007 / BF00037141 .
  • Arthur L. DeVries, Donald E. Wohlschlag: Freezing Resistance in Some Antarctic Fishes . In: Science . tape 163 , no. 3871 , March 7, 1969, p. 1073-1075 , doi : 10.1126 / science.163.3871.1073 .
  • KD Kenward, J. Brandle, J. McPherson, PL Davies: Type II fish antifreeze protein accumulation in transgenic tobacco does not confer frost resistance . In: Transgenic research . tape 8 , no. 2 , 1999, p. 105-117 , doi : 10.1023 / A: 1008886629825 .
  • Y. Fan, B. Liu, H. Wang, S. Wang, J. Wang: Cloning of an antifreeze protein gene from carrot and its influence on cold tolerance in transgenic tobacco plants . In: Plant Cell Reports . tape 21 , no. 4 , November 1, 2002, pp. 296-301 , doi : 10.1007 / s00299-002-0495-3 .