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Genetically Engineered Tomatoes
Illustration of bioengineered tomatoes that pack 25 times the normal amount of folate (the molecule shown in lower left), one of the most vital nutrients for the human body's growth and development and deemed essential for a healthy pregnancy.
An individual tomatoe contains a full day's worth of nutrients, so scientists hope that this research will have benefits worldwide by applying it to cereals and crops for less-developed countries, where folate deficiencies are a serious problem.
This image accompanied NSF press release, "Scientists Genetically Engineer Tomatoes with Enhanced Folate Content."
Credit: Zina Deretsky, National Science Foundation
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