Development of tearless and non-pungent onion dubbed 'Smile ball'

摘要

An onion (Allium cepa L.) is one of the most widely cultivated vegetables in the world. Its annual production in 2016 was estimated to be approximately 93.2 million tons. The most conspicuous feature of the onion is its tear-inducing, pungent property, which obviously is not welcome to many consumers. Therefore, the market for low-pungency onions is expanding in Europe and in the United States. Pungency has been correlated with production of lachrymatory factor (LF). The LF is produced from 1-propenyl cysteine sulfoxides ((E)-PRENCSO), via 1-prope-nesulfenic acid by the actions of alliinase and lachrymatory factor synthase (LFS). This suggests that the formation of the LF is under control of specific gene products, and that development of tearless, non-pungent onion may be possible via mutagenesis, and traditional breeding.