A Genetic Fix to Put the Taste Back in Tomatoes
Chang, Kenneth. "A Genetic Fix to Put the Taste Back in Tomatoes." New York Times. N.p., n.d.
Web.
Over time, tomatoes in today’s supermarkets are less and less tasteful. Now, Harry J. Klee believes that he can make it come back. “Dr. Klee and his colleagues describe flavor chemicals that are deficient in most modern varieties of tomatoes.” They tracked different genes in each tomato that produced these genes and as a result found tomatoes that possess better versions of these genes. “Now we know exactly what needs to be done to make it right,” Dr. Klee said. “We just have to turn the crank”. Even though genetic engineering would be easier and faster, they are using traditional breeding to make the taste improve. “Think of the tomato flavor as a symphony with lots of notes,” Dr. Klee said. “Over the last 50 years, they’ve removed one instrument at a time”. Since the tomato plants produce small quantities of these genes, restoring the good versions of the genes should not greatly affect the other traits that growers demand. People have been put to the test to see which tomato they preferred and some said the supermarket brand with less flavor.
It is sad that over time, the taste of fruits such as tomatoes has changed over the years. This is not normal. Today organic foods should have the most flavor possible no matter what year. It is important for labs to keep on testing these tomatoes and to try to get them to regain full taste level. Today, too many chemicals are put into foods and pesticides that are not organic and can be dangerous to one's health. If this is changed and maybe all foods can be organic and today’s generation can experience what taste buds once felt.
This article was very well written. I thought that the author did a really good job and clearly explaining the problem with the tomatoes and the opinions that professionals had on this issue. I cannot pinpoint an area in which the author could have improved the article since I think it was pretty good overall. I was able to learn a lot from it.
Alexander Plaza
ReplyDeleteChang, Kenneth. "A Genetic Fix to Put the Taste Back in Tomatoes." New York Times. N.p., n.d. Web.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/27/science/better-tasting-tomatoes-genes.htm
Margaux, I read your review of "A Genetic Fix to Put the Taste Back in Tomatoes" by Kenneth Chang and I thought that you did a good job. I thought that you did a good job at summarizing the article. I was not confused about your subject. This is good for the readers since it creates a firm base for the rest of your review. Also, I like that your summary is brief. It does not bore the reader with useless information and you are able to move to the main point of your review faster. Finally, I like that you quote Dr.Harry J. Klee. You quoting the doctor provides insight into the credibility of the article.
Although your article was good, there are some things that you could improve on. First, I think you should include a hyperlink to the article in your review. This would make it easier for the reader to locate your article so they could read it. Also, I believe that you could improve some minor grammatical errors. This would stop the reader’s attention from being drawn away from the content of the review towards the grammar.
Overall I enjoyed your review and I was interested by the idea. I already knew that the tomatoes we eat today are very different from the tomatoes we had long ago. It will be interesting to see how scientists will bring back old tomatoes into our lives.
Margaux Frolich provided a well written summary on her article’s topic of the flavor of tomatoes. I was able to easily understand what was being studied and what the issue was. Margaux’s summary on tomato genetics was simplified so that I could grasp the technical process involved in re-designing tomatoes. A second aspect that Margaux did well was her last paragraph where she critiqued the author and the article. Margaux explained how the author did a great job, writing a solid piece overall and wisely incorporating expert opinions in his article. A third aspect Margaux did well was her proper citation.
ReplyDeleteMargaux could have improved her response in many ways. Specifically, Margaux’s second paragraph was poorly written and it only vaguely described the significance of the topic. Margaux failed to mention the great potential that re-designing tomatoes has, for if foods are able to be remodelled for more flavor it could change how we grow and eat foods. A second instance where Margaux could have improved her response was by providing a link to the original article. Margaux did not list a url at the top of her response so I was unable to read the article myself.
After reading Margaux’s response, I learned that the taste of tomatoes has been gradually diluting and that scientists are attempting to selectively breed tomatoes so that the genes that are responsible for the tomatoes’ rich taste are present. This broadens my perception on genetically modifying food since there are more natural methods than what I had previously believed.
I read Margaux's review of "A Genetic Fix to Put the Taste Back in Tomatoes." There were may aspects of her review that were very well done. The first aspect is her summary was easy to follow and there wasn't any unnecessary information. The second aspect was her use of quotes from the article. This helped better my understanding of the article and also made her review more sophisticated. The third aspect that Margaux did well was her reaction to the article and commenting on what the author did well.
ReplyDeleteAlthough Margaux's review was good, there were some aspects that could have been improved. The first thing is that she could have explained the tracking of genes better. I found that part a little confusing and she could have added more details to clarify. The second aspect is that she did not incorporate a link to the article.
Overall, Margaux's review of the article was very well done. I found it interesting to read because I didn't know that the taste of foods changed over years. Hopefully scientists will continue to test foods to make sure the full taste is regained.
Margaux did a great job with her review of the article "A Genetic Fix to Put the Taste Back in Tomatoes." I liked how she kept her review short and sweet so she did not lose the reader's attention. I also liked that she extensively quoted the article, which added to her summary and gave the reader a sense of the article's tone. Finally, I enjoyed reading her personal take on the article, which really brought the topic to another level.
ReplyDeleteAlthough Margaux's review was solid, there were a few things she could have improved. First, it would have been helpful for her to include a hyperlink of the original article so that the reader could refer back to it with ease. Also, I would have liked Margaux to explain why tomatoes are losing flavor in the first place.
I really enjoyed Margaux's review and learned a lot about the science of flavor. I am interested to see what scientists come up with to bring back the flavor of old tomatoes. I also like the idea of genetically modifying crops using selective breeding rather than gene splicing.
Grace Randall
ReplyDeleteCE 15
Chang, Kenneth. "A Genetic Fix to Put the Taste Back in Tomatoes." New York Times. N.p., n.d. Web.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/27/science/better-tasting-tomatoes-genes.htm
Margaux’s review of the article, “A Genetic Fix to Put the Taste Back in Tomatoes,” was very well done. Her summary was clear and concise, while still providing a depth of information about this topic. She also incorporated relevant quotes from her article that definitely added to the credibility of her review and helped me understand the information better. For example she included a quote from one of the scientists who says, “Think of the tomato flavor as a symphony with lots of notes. Over the last 50 years, they’ve removed one instrument at a time.” Finally, I thought Margaux did an exemplary job connecting the article to society. She made a very strong point saying “If this is changed and maybe all foods can be organic and today’s generation can experience what taste buds once felt.”
Overall Margaux did a good job, but she still could improve a few areas. For example, while it was good that she provided quotes from the article to improve her explanation, she could have included more summary in her own words. She seemed to rely a bit too much on quotes. Also, she could have corrected some typos or grammatical mistakes, which would have improved the clarity of her review.
I was very interested in Margaux’s review and the article she cited. I had brief knowledge about this topic before and was unaware of this technological possibility. It reminded me of the power of genetics and how constant advancements in this field could make huge impacts in every part of life.
I read Margaux’ review of the article, “A Genetic Fix to put the Taste back in Tomatoes.” I enjoyed reading her article for three reasons. The first reason is that she provided a very good summary of the article. The second reason is that she quoted the original article which added credibility to her summary. Finally, I enjoyed how she kept her review concise and did not include any useless information.
ReplyDeleteAlthough her review was well written, she could have improved two aspects of her review. The first was that she could have improved on her grammar, as this would have made the review much easier to read. The second thing that she could have improved on was including the hyperlink to the article, as this would have made finding the article much easier.
After reading this article, I learned that scientists are trying to make the tomatoes taste better by genetically engineering them and selectively breeding them. Reading her review broadened my knowledge on GMOs.
Allison Barker
ReplyDeleteFebruary 7, 2017
AP Biology
Current Event Comment
Chang, Kenneth. "A Genetic Fix to Put the Taste Back in Tomatoes." New York Times. N.p., n.d.
Web.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/27/science/better-tasting-tomatoes-genes.html?_r=0
I greatly enjoyed Margaux’s review of Kenneth Chang’s article “A Genetic Fix to Put the Taste Back in Tomatoes” and found it incredibly informative. I appreciated Margaux’s inclusion of quotes in the review, as these helped to illustrate expert opinions on the issue and the potential importance of the emerging technology. Further, I liked that Margaux kept her review concise because it aided in my concentration on the details of the issue that are important. I also enjoyed Margaux’s description of the ways in which younger generations have lost the flavor of certain crops that older generations enjoyed. I had not considered this much before, and Margaux’s inclusion of this point helped me to feel more strongly about the issue.
Although Margaux’s review was extremely well-done, there are a couple of things that I would do to make it even better. First, I would include a bit more detail about the specific genes being changed in the tomatoes. This would have aided in my understanding, and it might have made me care more about the issue by knowing the tastes that were being restored. Further, I would have included some issues with the article. I’m sure that some things could be made better within the article, and it would have given me some perspective to see what Margaux thought was wrong with the article.
I had no idea that tastes could be restored through genetic engineering. I really enjoyed Margaux’s review of the article because it taught me a lot about an issue that I did not think about.