Tomato Fruits: A Natural Source for Antioxidants
A. Lalazar
Department of Genetics and Vegetables,
Institute for Field and Garden Crops, ARO Volcani
Center, Bet-Dagan, 50250 Israel.
Keywords: lycopene, photomorphogenic mutations, Vitamin C, Vitamin E, flavonoids, carotenoids, dark green, high pigment.
Abstract
Tomatoes are excellent fruits for metabolic manipulation. Tomatoes are consumed both fresh and processed (in multiple forms) around the globe in many countries by many cultures and are available year round. Tomatoes are amenable both to conventional breeding programs and to genetic engineering manipulation. However, probably because of several bottle necks during their domestication, only a small fraction of their genetic metabolic potential is represented in the currently grown cultivars.
About 15 years ago, Prof. Rafael Frankel (the late) and D. Lapushner introduced two spontaneous mutations; dark green (dg) and high pigment1 (hp1), in the breeding programs for Lycopene Rich Tomatoes. This resulted in the development of several commercial tomato cultivars that are successfully grown in Israel for the production of lycopene.
Lycopene was primarily used as a red colorant both for the food and cosmetics. However, its potent anti-oxidative properties proved more valuable. Thus, lycopene is used currently also as a food additive with many health promoting benefits ameliorating cardio vascular diseases, macular degeneration and promoting the immune system. In addition lycopene is being tried clinically as a potent suppressant of prostate cancer.
Recently, the molecular nature of the dg and the hp1 mutations was revealed and DNA markers were designed for both. Further more, detailed metabolic studies demonstrated that these photomorphogenic mutations promote the levels of a whole range of antioxidants in tomato fruits including: specific flavonoids and vitamins C and E.