A new company, Persephone Bio Ltd. formed by Cathie Martin and Eugenio
Butelli from the John Innes Centre is working on modified tomatoes to
produce high levels of useful compounds. Named after the Greek goddess of
vegetation, Persephone Bio Ltd. will use biotechnology to manufacture
sought-after bioactive ingredients for the cosmetics industry.

Martin said, "Tomatoes grown for food contain small amounts of cosmetically
useful products, such as flavonols and isoflavones, so we have developed
varieties that contain much higher levels of these and related compounds
that absorb ultra-violet light and protect plants against damage from the
sun. We've also created a 'chemical-free' commercial-scale system to extract
the ingredients directly from cold-pressed tomato juice."


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