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scientist have engineer a pink pineapple : It ’s unassuming on the exterior but a blushing garden pink on the interior . The Modern " Pinkglow " pineapple , which is grow in Costa Rica , is patent and trade by food colossus Del Monte and was 16 yr in the fashioning — and it ’s fly off the shelf .
But what render this genetically organise tropical yield its flushed hue ? The build is made pink thanks to an extra helping of lycopene , a carotenoid and paint that occur naturally in pineapple . It ’s also the compound that give watermelon and tomatoes their red color .
The “pinkglow” pineapple, grown in Costa Rica, gets its pink color from lycopene.
Inpineapples , lycopene is usually converted to genus Beta - carotene by an enzyme , which makes the inside of the pineapple plant scandalmongering . That enzyme , lycopene beta - cyclase , is muted in the pink pineapple , and this causes lycopene to amass , harmonize to Del Monte’spatenton the new yield . Because Del Monte has claimed the pink pineapple as intellectual property , it is the only society allowed to develop them .
According to the letters patent , the lycopene - converting enzyme is muted using a proficiency known as RNA interference . That means the ship’s company add a gene whoseRNAmatches and binds the RNA carrying the content to work up the protein lycopene beta - cyclase , Courtney Weber , industrial plant education and genetic science expert at Cornell University say . constipate the RNA preclude the cell from puddle the enzyme . The newfangled gene was then transfer to the Ananas comosus genomeusing a case of bacteria that naturally transfers DNAto a host cell as part of its life story bike .
The genetic engineering process began in 2005 , according to the patent . After six years , Del Monte tested four generations of the industrial plant grow in Costa Rica between 2010 and 2014 . The examination cognitive process for a new variety takes a foresighted time , Weber severalize Live Science .
" You have to test it , put it in the line of business , verify it grows right , verify it ’s an acceptable variety , that it ’s productive enough , " Weber enjoin . And the ananas is n’t a particularly tight - acquire works .
The produce companionship also modernise a " Honeyglow " pineapple with an extra - golden interior . In August , Del Monte reported that demand for the pink pineapples isoutpacing supplyand that the Honeyglow and Pinkglow together give tohigher double-dyed profitthan in the premature quarter .
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In grocery stores , the pink ananas costs about $ 10 , or roughly twice the Mary Leontyne Price of standard varieties . And online retailer sell a single yield for $ 29 to $ 39 .
These high terms are a product of scarcity and marketing , Weber say .
" We ’ve seen that in other varieties that were not GMO [ genetically modified ] , " he say . For example , Honeycrisp apples and Cotton Candy grapes were both very popular and considerably high in price than traditional varieties when they were introduced to the marketplace . As more of these fruit are produced , the price comes down , and that will belike be the vitrine for pink pineapple , Weber said .
