Kera Kota, Asada Haruka, Kikuchi Shunsuke, Saito Shoma, Iijima Masumi, Nakayama Tsutomu, Suzuki Hideyuki
Department of Nutritional Science and Food Safety, Faculty of Applied Bioscience, Tokyo University of Agriculture.
Department of Research and Development, Kazusa DNA Research Institute.
Plant Biotechnol (Tokyo). 2024 Jun 25;41(2):165-168. doi: 10.5511/plantbiotechnology.24.0421a.
Papaya ( L.) is a herbaceous plant belonging to the family Caricaceae in the order Brassicales. The shape of papaya fruit was linked to sex, and the fruit of female plants is round, whereas that of hermaphrodites is pyriform. Although fruit shape preferences vary by region, differences in their functionalities have not been investigated. Since unripe fruit, also called green papaya, is known for its nutritional and therapeutic benefits, we performed a metabolome analysis of unripe papaya using liquid chromatography coupled with quadrupole/time of flight mass spectrometry. We first focused on capraine derivatives, major piperidine alkaloids, and bioactive compounds with significant antiplasmodial activity. Interestingly, carpaine derivatives tended to be altered in the peel and pulp but not in the seed. Multivariate analyses indicated little difference or minor differences to the extent that they can be caused by individual differences in metabolite profiling between the two sexes. Conversely, total polyphenol content and proteolytic activity were also investigated, but there were no differences between females and hermaphrodites for total polyphenol content and proteolytic activity. In conclusion, the metabolome and major functionalities were similar between hermaphrodites and female unripe fruit. However, it would be worth considering the sex of the material fruit, especially when focusing on the functional properties of carpaine derivatives.
番木瓜（L.）是一种草本植物，属于十字花目番木瓜科。番木瓜果实的形状与性别有关，雌株的果实是圆形的，而雌雄同株的果实是梨形的。尽管不同地区对果实形状的偏好有所不同，但尚未对其功能差异进行研究。由于未成熟的果实，也称为青木瓜，因其营养和治疗功效而闻名，我们使用液相色谱结合四极杆/飞行时间质谱对未成熟的番木瓜进行了代谢组分析。我们首先关注了卡百碱衍生物、主要的哌啶生物碱以及具有显著抗疟活性的生物活性化合物。有趣的是，卡百碱衍生物在果皮和果肉中容易发生变化，但在种子中则不然。多变量分析表明，两性之间在代谢物谱的个体差异方面几乎没有差异或差异很小。相反，我们还研究了总多酚含量和蛋白水解活性，但雌株和雌雄同株在总多酚含量和蛋白水解活性方面没有差异。总之，雌雄同株和雌株的未成熟果实之间的代谢组和主要功能相似。然而，在关注卡百碱衍生物的功能特性时，尤其值得考虑果实的性别。
