(AGRI) From Superseeds To Mutant Tomatoes

"ZACHARY B. LIPPMAN, who favors hemp sandals, baggy khakis and an overgrown 5 o’clock shadow, is tending 40,000 tomato plants this summer, including 80 heirloom variants. He is in the second phase of his discovery of a genetic intervention that turns the average tomato plant into a bionic fruit factory. An international patent is, as the saying goes, pending.

'If I had a million dollars, I’d start a seed company tomorrow,' said Dr. Lippman, 32, a scientist with a hunch that the world is insatiable when it comes to tomatoes.

Dr. Lippman did his postdoctoral research on plum tomatoes in Rehovot, Israel, in conjunction with two top geneticists and mentors, Dani Zamir and Yuvel Eshed."