Breeding new grapefruit-like varieties with low furanocoumarin contents

Furanocoumarins are compounds present in pummelo and grapefruit (grapefruit is a probable hybrid ofpummelo and sweet-orange) and absent in mandarin and orange fruit. People that consume different typesof drugs, such as statins, antihistamines, and certain antibiotics, are forbidden to consume grapefruits andpummelo because of the inhibitory affect of furanocoumarins on cytochrome P450 3A4 activity, a key enzymeinvolved in drug metabolism, and its inhibition may lead to severe health risks. Since it is anticipated that 50%of the population above the age of 40 will need to take statins, we predict a drastic drop in grapefruit juiceconsumption in the near future. Therefore, to address this problem, we aimed to develop a new grapefruitlikevariety without furanocoumarins. For that purpose, we screened using LC-MS various grapefruit-likehybrids for presence of furanocoumarins, and found that most of the genotypes tested, such as 'Marsh' grapefruit, 'Chandler' and 'Flamingo' pummelos, and various grapefruit-like hybrids, such as 'Einat' ('Hudson' grapefruit X 'acidless pummelo') and 'Michal' mandarin X 'Duncan' grapefruit, contained high amounts of furanocoumarins. However, a particular hybrid between 'Chandler' pummelo X 'Orah' mandarin, named S02'Aliza', had low furanocoumarin content. At the same time, the observed level of naringin, which providestypical grapefruit bitter flavor, in 'Aliza' fruit was the same as that detected in 'Marsh' grapefruit.