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Tomatoes that grow without a plant may sound like science fiction. Yet researchers at Utrecht ľ�ϸ���Ӱ�� and Wageningen ľ�ϸ���Ӱ�� & Research are exploring how it could become reality. The concept could transform food production and make it more sustainable and resilient. The team has published its vision in the journal Trends in Biotechnology.
 

The process of growing plantless fruit starts with something very small: a seed or a piece of leaf. When exposed to the right signals that activate the genes responsible for flowering, the starting material develops into a flower bud. As in nature, the flower can be pollinated, or in this case artificially induced to initiate fruit development. Instead of drawing energy from sunlight, the plant-free fruit grows in a carbohydrate-rich nutrient solution.

“If we can produce fruits in factories rather than in fields, we could shield part of our food supply from the impacts of climate change,” says Lucas van der Zee, PhD candidate with the Horticulture and Product Physiology group at Wageningen ľ�ϸ���Ӱ�� & Research. “It would also mean that we need far less land to grow food.”

While individual steps in the process are already been described earlier in scientific literature, the authors now bring them together for the first time in a single theoretical framework. At Utrecht ľ�ϸ���Ӱ��, biologist Niels Peeters is working on the crucial step in which the starting material develops from a cell into a flower bud. In Wageningen, researchers are investigating how a flower bud develops into a mature fruit.

Small fruits, big questions

The researchers are optimistic about the possibilities, but stress that the concept is still at an early stage. The first fruits grown in this way remain small, and production is far from sustainable. If ordinary sugar is used to feed the fruits, the environmental benefit is offset by the extra farmland needed to produce that sugar. 

One potential solution is the use of CO₂-derived acetate, a compound related to acetic acid. This involves reacting CO2 with water while applying an electric current. Co-author Robert Jinkerson of the ľ�ϸ���Ӱ�� of California already studies how plants can use acetate for growth.

Societal and ethical choices

Alongside technical issues, the researchers raise social and ethical questions. “Fruits are more than just a consumption product. How we make, eat and share food helps define who we are,” says Van der Zee. “We believe that it is important that people have a say in how their food is produced.” Together with philosopher and co-author Zoë Robaey of Wageningen ľ�ϸ���Ӱ�� & Research, who studies the ethics of biotechnology in agriculture, the team is also exploring questions around ownership, access to technology, and the role of farmers and breeders.

Van der Zee: “We want to make the knowledge we develop freely accessible, so people around the world can help shape what cultivated fruits should look and taste like.”