In the normal course of maturation, a tomato is green for about 50 days. However, by day 73 it is squishy and not edible. But in Theologis' genetically engineered tomato, at day 73 the tomato is just getting a little bit darker due to the small amount of ethylene normally found in the air. It is still green and hard as a rock. Then by supplying ethylene....boom! on command, it ripens. Consequently, it's possible to pick all of the tomatoes in the unripe form, then induce them to ripen at once. Instead of losing half the crop you get a twofold increase.
So, I think this technology is really quite remarkable in the sense that it's possible to build on the currently available crops and add selectively one or more genes, try to outwit the pathogens that plague modern agriculture. And I believe we need to proceed with this new technology.
  
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Winding Your Way Through DNA Resource Book Index
