Quick Dips

Kiwifruit Mechanics

Researchers at Auckland University are studying the genetic material of tomatoes and kiwifruit. They hope to produce a kiwifruit that will last longer and stay sweeter.

Dr Richard Gardner has been able to "switch off" the gene in tomatoes that is involved in breaking down the fruit at the end of the ripening sequence. He's now trying to do the same thing for kiwifruit. It'll take three to four years before results are known, as the plant has to be regrown from a single genetically-manipulated cell.

"Whether it will work in kiwifruit or not, we don't know," he says. "It's a `suck it and see' experiment."