Flavr Savr

Calgene, Inc., a small biotech company, was founded in 1980 in Davis, California. The company’s founders were particularly interested in the tomato. Research into the genetics of tomatoes had been under way since 1950, when the University of California at Davis established the Tomato Genetics Cooperative (TGC). By 1977 researchers had identified 288 genes in tomatoes, and the fruit’s chromosomes were mapped for marker genes. As a result of this research, each of the tomato’s twelve chromosomes could easily be recognized during certain stages of its reproduction.