Domesticating The Ground Cherry Using CRISPR Gene Editing

This hardy, nutritious and tasty fruit is teaching scientists how to rapidly domesticate a plant into a sustainable and resilient crop using cutting-edge technology.

F I G U R E 1 : Fruit of Physalis grisea detach and fall off the plant at various stages of ripeness, resulting in varying coloration of detached fruit and their calyces, (a) P. grisea fruit with inflated calyces. (b) Variation in coloration of detached P. grisea fruit with the calyx peeled back from the fruit. (Credit: Savanah Dale and Elise Tomaszewski.) (doi:10.1002/ppp3.10536)

I remember my enchantment the first time I saw goldenberries, often known by its generic name, Physalis. The fruit, which is occasionally sold in grocery stores, looks like a shiny and bright yellowish-orange cherry tomato and grows inside its own paper-like wrapper (an inflated calyx), with tastes that range from sweet to tart, and flavors resembling something between a tomato and a pineapple.