RNA interference increases shelf life of fruits and vegetables
Posted by Sridhar Tayur on Fri, Feb 12, 2010 @ 12:31 AM
I fell in love with RNA interference (RNAi) the very first moment I read about it, for its elegant simplicity and its potential effectiveness in a wide variety of areas. Today I read an article -- based on a recent publication in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences -- that described how the shelf life of tomatoes (normally about 15 days evidently without refrigeration) is extended to 45 days by silencing genes that drive ripening of fruits and vegetable (and so slowing down their ripening). Research is underway to similarly silence the ripening genes in papaya and banana. This, if approved for widespread use, can help countries like India tremendously where refrigeration is prohibitively expensive and demand for food far outstrips supply.
In strong contrast to genetically modified (GM) seeds and foods (like Bt Cotton or Bt Brinjal), no foreign or new gene is inserted in the case of RNAi and so this technology is expected to have less social and political obstacles towards approval.
Separately (and completely unrelated to this research on fruits and vegetables), my charitable foundation (RAGS Charitable Foundation) has been funding research in RNAi in the hope of finding a therapy for a rare neurological disease (similar to HD and Parkinson) called spino-cerebellar ataxia (SCA). In this context, I have had the joy of communicating with Andy Fire (co-winner of the Nobel for the discovery of RNAi along with Craig Mello) and Phil Sharp (another Nobelist, although not for RNAi, and co-founder of Alnylam Technologies that is looking for RNAi therapy for HD and Parkinson). I am optimistic that over the next decade several great practical contributions of RNAi will become available.