MELONS that mature at a leisurely pace are the latest product to figure in
the debate over genetically modified foods. The new cantaloupes would keep fresh
for over a month in cold storage.
The trick is to modify the production of ethylene, a gaseous hormone involved
in ripening. Melons produce a sudden burst of ethylene as they ripen, leaving
only a week or so before they become too mushy to sell.
Jean-Claude Pech of the School of Agricultural Engineering in Toulouse,
France, and his colleagues engineered a 鈥渂ackwards鈥� version of the gene for an
enzyme involved in ethylene production, and inserted it into the melons鈥� DNA.
This antisense DNA blocks the enzyme from being made, and cut the production of
ethylene by 99 per cent.
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Without ethylene, the melons ripen very slowly. Growers could harvest their
fruit at a convenient time, says Spanish melon grower Francisco Serrano Garcia,
while distributors could export further afield. 鈥淭his is great news,鈥� he
says.
But an easier life for growers and distributors won鈥檛 be enough to make GM
melons acceptable to shoppers, according to a spokeswoman for Britain鈥檚 National
Consumer Council. 鈥淭here would have to be clear benefits for the consumer,鈥� she
says.