STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Scientists using gene-editing technology were able to unlock the vitamin D potential of tomatoes in an innovation that researchers said could help widespread deficiency of the micronutrient that works to strengthen bones.
A United kingdom-based study published Monday in the journal Nature Plants showed tomatoes could be genetically altered to enable provitamin D3 — a precursor of vitamin D — to develop in the fruit and its leaves. Provitamin D3 is not typically present in ripe tomatoes.
The result of the genetic engineering is a potential vegan options that, if adopted, could help around one billion people who suffer from vitamin D deficiency, said the researchers.
“We’ve shown that you can biofortify tomatoes with provitamin D3 using gene editing, which means tomatoes could be developed as a plant-based, sustainable source of vitamin D3,” Professor Cathie Martin, corresponding author of the study, said in a release.
Vitamin D is typically acquired through diet; however, it is also produced when the skin is exposed to sunlight, giving it its moniker: “the sunshine vitamin.”
This process was similarly-mirrored in the study when researchers took tomatoes and blocked an enzyme that is responsible for converting provitamin D3, allowing it to accumulate in the fruit. Then, the researchers exposed tomatoes with accumulated provitamin D3 to ultraviolet B light (UVB), causing the vitamin D precursor to transition to vitamin D.
After the treatment, one tomato contained the same amount of vitamin D as two medium eggs or one ounce of tuna, the study said.
The breakthrough also could make use of tomato leaves that typically go unused in food production.
“Forty percent of Europeans have vitamin D insufficiency and so do one billion people world-wide,” added Martin. “We are not only addressing a huge health problem, but are helping producers, because tomato leaves which currently go to waste, could be used to make supplements from the gene-edited lines.”
The study’s authors said vitamin D levels could even potentially be increased by extended exposure to UVB light. Blocking the enzyme did not have any effect on growth, development or yield of tomato plants, said the researchers.
“The Covid-19 pandemic has helped to highlight the issue of vitamin D insufficiency and its impact on our immune function and general health,” Dr Jie Li, a first author of the study, said in the release. “The provitamin D enriched tomatoes we have produced offer a much-needed plant-based source of the sunshine vitamin. That is great news for people adopting a plant-rich, vegetarian or vegan diet, and for the growing number of people worldwide suffering from the problem of vitamin D insufficiency.”
BBC News reported the technique is not currently used in food production in the United Kingdom because of regulatory standards set by the European Union; however, Brexit has enabled the United Kingdom to set its own rules.
A bill introduced Wednesday in England would allow commercial growing of gene-edited crops, the report said.