This study aimed to develop a novel tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) cultivar enriched in phytoene and phytofluene, colorless carotenoids known for their health-promoting properties. Parental lines with diverse fruit colors and morphological traits were selected and crossbred to generate three F₁ hybrids: ‘Rubybell’, ‘INDIGO-G’, and ‘BLACK-B’. The phytoene and phytofluene contents of the hybrids were quantified using high-performance liquid chromatography. Among them, ‘Rubybell’ exhibited the highest concentrations of phytoene (0.105 mg/g) and total phytofluene (0.118 mg/g), representing increases of 51% and 29% compared to the maternal line APR-52-MU, and 14% and 1% compared to the paternal line CAPP1745, respectively. Compared to commercial tomato cultivars, ‘Rubybell’ exhibited 76- and 23-fold higher levels of phytoene and phytofluene, respectively. Furthermore, ‘Rubybell’ accumulated higher levels of these functional compounds when cultivated in March and October, underscoring the influence of the planting season on carotenoid biosynthesis. These findings offer valuable insights into the breeding of high-value functional tomatoes and support their potential use in health-promoting food applications (Registration number: 10514).

Forest tree improvement is relatively a young science and its purpose is to provide guidance for the conservation, management and sustainable utilization of genetic resources of natural and managed forests. In South Korea, forest tree improvement programs started in 1956. The programs had two main aims: to guarantee the genetic origin of the forest reproductive materials used in afforestation and reforestation, and to develop genetically improved individuals and varieties of some commercially important trees. Since the launch of the forest tree improvement programs, biomass production has been the major improvement target, together with overall adaptability to different sites. Further improvement targets have recently been added, including wood quality traits, and more specific targets linked to adaptation to abiotic and biotic factors in response to new socioeconomic needs and global changes. Additionally, since the early 1970s, forest genetic resource conservation and forest fruit and nut tree breeding have progressed in South Korea. Molecular breeding techniques based on omics information are being developed to enhance the efficacy of selection and to accelerate forest tree breeding cycles. Genetic engineering, including gene editing, has also been applied, but is currently limited to research purposes. Forest tree improvement will be an integral part of the bioeconomy in securing the production of good quality raw materials in large quantities, and will play a significant role in sequestering carbon dioxide and decelerating climate change in the long term.

Recently, several attempts have been undertaken to develop breeding technologies by combining new biotechnologies. Gene-editing technology is currently one of the most interesting areas. The plant breeding methods using this technique have the advantage of greatly improved accuracy and efficiency of the plant genetic correction compared with conventional breeding methods, which has raised expectations for the useful application of this technology as a cutting-edge breeding technology. Although not all countries around the world currently have established appropriate regulation policies on crops developed with gene-editing technology, the number of cases in which GMO regulations are not applied on a case-by-case basis according to the scientific background is growing. However, Korea has not yet established policies on which criteria should be applied to crops generated from the application of gene-editing technology. As the number of cases of crop development and commercialization using gene-editing technology is expected to increase in the near future, it will be necessary to prepare reasonable policies to support developers and seed industries in Korea to ensure harmonization with international regulatory policy trends.