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While experimenting with weed genes that turned tomatoes dark green, geneticists accidentally discovered one of the reasons why today’s tomatoes lack taste.
基因学家在对使番茄呈墨绿色的基因进行实验的过程中，意外发现了现今西红柿乏味的另外一大原因。
Modern tomatoes are light green before they turn uniformly red.
现在的西红柿在全部变红之前是呈浅绿色的，
Surprisingly, the mutation that gives tomatoes uniform red color actually disables some of the ripening genes.
令人惊奇的是，让番茄变红的变异却恰恰抑制了成熟基因的作用。
Those genes allow the fruit to make its own sugar which makes the tomato sweeter.
而成熟基因可以使水果产生糖分，从而使番茄变甜。
The genes also increase the amount of carotenoid pigments, which give tomatoes the red color.
同时产生更多的类胡萝卜素，使番茄变红。
When researchers turned the ripening genes back on, their experimental tomatoes had twenty percent more sugar and up to thirty percent more carotenoids.
当研究者们尝试着将成熟基因恢复到原有数量后，他们的实验番茄中所含的糖分增加了20%，类胡萝卜素提高了30%。
Unfortunately, regulations prohibited researchers from tasting their experimental fruits, but you can try eating heirloom tomatoes.
遗憾的是，由于法规的原因，研究者们无法品尝自己的实验番茄，不过你们可以试着尝尝那些纯天然的番茄。
Some varieties might not be pretty looking, but are tasty.
它们不中看，但是很好吃。
译文为可可英语翻译，未经授权请勿转载!
