Teen grows tomatoes that taste like beef burgers

Seventeen-year-old scientist Gabriella Rothberg is working on developing a tomato that tastes like a beef burger, potentially offering a new way to combine meat's flavor with plant-based nutrition. Rothberg, the founder of Impossible Vines, is altering the genes of tomato plants to produce heme, a molecule rich in iron that contributes to meat's taste.

The project, carried out with the help of PhD candidate Maddison Marshall, aims to create tomatoes with a beef-like flavor and enhanced nutritional content. Rothberg utilizes the bacterium Agrobacterium to introduce genetic material into tomato plants, allowing researchers to modify them to produce specific compounds. The teenager has shared updates on her work via her Instagram account, Impossible Vines, showcasing the growth of the genetically engineered plants from tissue-cultured explants to established plants in soil.

Rothberg's goal is to develop tomatoes with enough absorbable iron to make a significant nutritional impact, particularly for communities where meat is less accessible. The project, still in development, has obtained a patent and aims to explore the possibility of creating a tomato that not only tastes like a burger but also provides nutritional benefits.