ITHACA, N.Y. – Researchers from Cornell University are working to genetically improve a little-known fruit called the groundcherry.

Groundcherries are part of the same family as tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, and eggplants and are close relatives to tomatillos. While the fruit looks very similar to a cherry tomato covered by a husk, it actually tastes sweet. Most people eat the fruit fresh, while some communities make groundcherry pies, jam, and jelly.

Joyce Van Eck, professor at the Boyce Thompson Institute at Cornell, and her research team have been diligently working to raise awareness of the yellow fruit, which has never been cultivated on a large scale. Van Eck first became interested in groundcherries when she was researching tomato plants. At the time, she was investigating the genetics that control plant characteristics like the size and shape of fruit.

“One of the ways that you can understand more about how a plant’s genes function is by actually causing a roadblock and not allowing a gene to fully do what it needs to do. When you do that, it changes the characteristics of the plant you’re studying if you’re hitting the right gene,” she said.

Van Eck’s team was using CRISPR genome editing, a type of technology that allows researchers to precisely modify the DNA of an organism they are studying. By using CRISPR gene editing in tomato plants, Van Eck said that she and her team realized CRISPR could be a way to fast-track the improvement of a crop in addition to breeding programs and fast-track domestication. The team became interested in the idea that a plant species with undesirable growth characteristics could be quickly improved with CRISPR gene editing for large-scale production to diversify our food supply.

Enter groundcherry, a plant species that has had little improvement over the decades that would make it a desirable agricultural product. To understand the current issues with growing groundcherry, Van Eck spearheaded a community science project, handing out seeds to farmers and home gardeners and asking them to provide feedback on what improvements could be made to the fruit to improve its growth characteristics.

“I still remember one farmer who said, ‘If you could get these plants to behave and make the growth habit more manageable, I would grow acres of them because the flavor is so good,’” she said.

The community science project participants noted two main problems with growing and harvesting groundcherry. One, the plant growth habit was very unmanageable. Van Eck said that the groundcherry’s growth is similar to that of indeterminate tomato types, sprawling, large, and difficult to maintain. Two, groundcherry gets its name from dropping its fruit onto the ground. This happens at all stages of ripening, making it challenging to harvest not only because the fruit is on the ground but also because it isn’t fully ripened. Additionally, the fruit is at risk of picking up microorganisms from the soil that can cause adverse health effects.

In less than a decade, Van Eck and her team have already created two modified groundcherry plants, one with a compact growth habit and another that holds onto its fruit longer. Next, the team plans to cross the two lines to combine the desirable characteristics into one plant. Typically, these significant improvements to a crop would take one to two decades to complete through traditional breeding programs, demonstrating how powerful and quick gene editing tools like CRISPR can be.

Not only has the team improved the plant, but they are also working to understand its biological mechanisms. The groundcherry demonstrates resistance to some insects and diseases. Van Eck said that understanding the genes contributing to this resistance could one day be applied to other major crops.

While Van Eck and her team are unable to mass produce and mass market groundcherries, she hopes to find partners to commercialize the fruit.

“The next step would be to find breeders interested in taking (the modified lines of groundcherry) and looking at them from an agronomic standpoint, making selections, and then getting them out to farmers,” she said. “One of my goals is to get our enhanced germplasm into the hands of breeders so they can start working with it more than we can, so it’s a viable option for farmers to grow.”

It’s unlikely that you’ll see groundcherries at your local supermarket any time soon, but you can make a splash at the local farmer’s market by growing them yourself. Van Eck said that the plant grows well in pots and that the best commercially available seeds are a variety called Aunt Molly’s, which has a slight pineapple flavor. Groundcherry doesn’t have seasonality like other fruits, producing fruit until frost. After harvest, the seeds can be saved to plant a true-to-type generation the following year.