Researchers have apparently engineered lettuce to express higher levels of the sCAX1 gene which pumps calcium into the cell’s vacuole, leading to 25-32% higher levels of the nutrient in the leaves. Sadly, there’s nothing in the article about genetic variation in Ca content among different varieties, so it’s not clear whether these increases could have been achieved by conventional breeding. Anyway, despite the paper, which I nibbled yesterday, showing the possibility of a link between Ca content and bitterness, there was apparently no difference in bitterness between the normal and biofortified lettuces. So that’s allright then.