Tough veg muscle in

GARDENERS plagued by wilting lettuces and off-colour tomato plants are to get a helping hand from scientists.

A team from Lancaster University's biological sciences department has identified vegetable genes that are resistant to pollution and extremes of temperature. In a Pounds 942,000 project with the John Innes Centre in Norwich, Plant Breeding International in Cambridge and Sharpe International Seeds, they are now producing super-plants, boosted by a string of these useful genes, and are testing them for toughness.

The exercise should help improve the shelf-life of vegetables and make them withstand pollution and disease.