I’ve been asked in several occasions about a blue strawberry and whether it truly exists. Thus, I thought of reposting one of my first blog posts to clarify this point.
The Blue Strawberry is a genetically modified food. To start with, genetically modified foods are foods that are engineered through an artificial transfer (insertion or deletion) of genes; the genes usually come from different species.
Scientists have found that the “Arctic Flounder Fish” produces an antifreeze to protect itself in freezing waters.
Thus, the gene that regulates the production of the antifreeze trait was taken from the Arctic Flounder fish and was genetically introduced into the strawberry plant. As a result, a gmo strawberry plant is formed.
The gmo strawberry plant can withstand icy freezing temperatures; thus wouldn’t degrade or turn into mush after being placed in the freezer. To this date, such attempts are done for research purposes!!
The post shared the attempt of GMO strawberries yet, more research is needed concerning the matter; up to this date there are NO blue strawberries in production, as far as we know.
Reference:
Graduate Program Advanced Biochemistry, Genetically Modified Foods Lecture Notes, Dr. Imad Toufeili, American University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon.
Related References:
- AGROBACTERIAL TRANSFORMATION AND TRANSFER OF THE ANTIFREEZE PROTEIN GENE OF WINTER FLOUNDER TO THE STRAWBERRY http://www.actahort.org/books/484/484_99.htm
- CBF1 Gene Transgenic Strawberry and Increase Freezing Tolerance http://en.cnki.com.cn/Article_en/CJFDTOTAL-DNYX200702001.htm
- THE GENETIC TRANSFORMATION OF STRAWBERRY WITH WINTER FLOUNDER ANTIFREEZE PROTEIN GENE http://en.cnki.com.cn/Article_en/CJFDTOTAL-HNXB200903015.htm
- The Genetic Transformation of Strawberry with Winter Flounder Antifreeze Protein Gene http://www.hnxb.org/EN/abstract/abstract8448.shtm
- GENETIC ENGINEERING http://www.fao.org/DOCREP/006/T2114E/T2114E07.html Transgenic Strawberry: State of the art for improved traits http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0734975007001371
-Agrobacterium-mediated transformation of modified antifreeze protein gene in strawberry http://webfortesting.com/journal/27-4/02-strawberry-gene.pdf
http://strawberryblu.com/2011/08/21/so-whats-with-the-blue-strawberry/
