Smita Shuchi, Rajwanshi Ravi, Lenka Sangram Keshari, Katiyar Amit, Chinnusamy Viswanathan, Bansal Kailash Chander
National Research Centre on Plant Biotechnology Indian Agricultural Research Institute Campus, New Delhi 110 012, India.
J Genet. 2013 Dec;92(3):363-8. doi: 10.1007/s12041-013-0275-6.
Fruit ripening process is associated with change in carotenoid profile and accumulation of lycopene in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.). In this study, we quantified the beta-carotene and lycopene content at green, breaker and red-ripe stages of fruit ripening in eight tomato genotypes by using high-performance liquid chromatography. Among the genotypes, lycopene content was found highest in Pusa Rohini and lowest in VRT-32-1. To gain further insight into the regulation of lycopene biosynthesis and accumulation during fruit ripening, expression analysis of nine carotenoid pathway-related genes was carried out in the fruits of high lycopene genotype-Pusa Rohini. We found that expression of phytoene synthase and beta-carotene hydroxylase-1 was four and thirty-fold higher, respectively, at breaker stage as compared to red-ripe stage of fruit ripening. Changes in the expression level of these genes were associated with a 40% increase in lycopene content at red-ripe stage as compared with breaker stage. Thus, the results from our study suggest the role of specific carotenoid pathway-related genes in accumulation of high lycopene during the fruit ripening processes.
果实成熟过程与番茄（茄属番茄）类胡萝卜素谱的变化以及番茄红素的积累有关。在本研究中，我们使用高效液相色谱法对8种番茄基因型果实成熟的绿色、转色期和红熟期的β-胡萝卜素和番茄红素含量进行了定量分析。在这些基因型中，发现番茄红素含量在Pusa Rohini中最高，在VRT - 32 - 1中最低。为了进一步深入了解果实成熟过程中番茄红素生物合成和积累的调控机制，我们对高番茄红素基因型Pusa Rohini的果实进行了9个类胡萝卜素途径相关基因的表达分析。我们发现，与果实成熟的红熟期相比，八氢番茄红素合酶和β-胡萝卜素羟化酶-1在转色期的表达分别高出4倍和30倍。与转色期相比，这些基因表达水平的变化与红熟期番茄红素含量增加40%有关。因此，我们的研究结果表明特定的类胡萝卜素途径相关基因在果实成熟过程中高番茄红素积累中的作用。
