Sicilian Rouge High GABA tomato (first commercial CRISPR food)
Tomate Sicilian Rouge con alto GABA (primer alimento CRISPR comercial)
- Date
- 2020-2021 · confidence high
- Place
- University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan
- Credited to
- Hiroshi Ezura (University of Tsukuba) and Sanatech Seed
- Field
- Life & health
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
Tomato whose glutamate decarboxylase gene was edited with CRISPR-Cas9 to accumulate about four times more GABA, linked to effects on blood pressure. Japan accepted it in 2020 as an edited food outside transgenic regulation and it went on sale in September 2021.
Calyxt marketed in 2019 high-oleic soybean oil edited with TALEN in the US and is usually cited as the first edited food; Sanatech's tomato is the first made with CRISPR. The physiological effect of the added GABA is debated.
What it led to
- differentiated regulation of edited crops in Japan, the US, Argentina and the EU (2023 proposal)
- edited fish (sea bream, pufferfish) from Regional Fish in Japan
- other edited crops for consumption (soy, waxy maize, wheat)