I came across an interesting article that discussing the presence of most of genes that make peppers hot existing in tomatoes, and of efforts to re-activate those genes. We tend to discuss mammalian evolution here most of the time, but is it nice to see how plants also evolved, with tomatoes said to have diverged from peppers about 19 million years ago, but still retaining some of the common pathways to make hot sauce, with some broken links. Maybe if the scientists are successful, it will bring GMOs some love. As one of the researchers said: “I would probably use [it] to make hot guacamole,” Zsögön says. “I love Mexican food.”
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Whoa! Could see lots of uses for those!
Those sound like some mighty hot tomatoes.
Don’t usually get to say this here, but:YUM!
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One thing I often bring up when talking about GMOs is that they also occur naturally such as with horizontal gene transfer.
I always have mix feelings when it comes to GMOs. Not as in if they are bad for us but the balance of losing heirloom species for quick commercialization of modified foods. Also in general how we see monoculture crops displacing native foods.
Also the fear of these seeds being saved by consumers and planted in gardens and cross breeding with other species resulting in this gene possibly escaping cultivation.
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