Tomatoes are consumed worldwide as fresh vegetables because of their high contents of essential nutrients and antioxidant-rich phytochemicals. Tomatoes contain minerals, vitamins, proteins, essential amino acids (leucine, threonine, valine, histidine, lysine, arginine), monounsaturated fatty acids (linoleic and linolenic acids), carotenoids (lycopene and β-carotenoids) and phytosterols (β-sitosterol, campesterol and stigmasterol). Lycopene is the main dietary carotenoid in tomato and tomato-based food products and lycopene consumption by humans has been reported to protect against cancer, cardiovascular diseases, cognitive function and osteoporosis. Among the phenolic compounds present in tomato, quercetin, kaempferol, naringenin, caffeic acid and lutein are the most common. Many of these compounds have antioxidant activities and are effective in protecting the human body against various oxidative stress-related diseases. Dietary tomatoes increase the body’s level of antioxidants, trapping reactive oxygen species and reducing oxidative damage to important biomolecules such as membrane lipids, enzymatic proteins and DNA, thereby ameliorating oxidative stress. We reviewed the nutritional and phytochemical compositions of tomatoes. In addition, the impacts of the constituents on human health, particularly in ameliorating some degenerative diseases, are also discussed.

Microbial cellulases have been drawing attention worldwide because of their massive capacity to process the most abundant cellulosic biomass into sustainable biofuels and other valuable products. Profitable biomass conversion processes are highly dependent on the use of efficient enzymes for lignocellulose degradation. Among the cellulose degrading enzymes, β-glucosidases are essential for efficient hydrolysis of cellulosic biomass as they relieve the inhibition of the cellobiohydrolases and endoglucanases by reducing cellobiose accumulation. In this study, cellulolytic bacteria with potential β-glucosidases activity were isolated and screened from biogas plant effluent and dairy effluent near Jahangirnagar University campus. From initial screening, a total of 16 isolates were found to have cellulolytic activity, among them three isolates (B 1 , B 5 , D 4 ) were selected based on their superior results. All the three bacterial isolates were identified as B. subtilis (B 1 ), Bacillus amyloliquefaciens (B 5 ) and B. subtilis (D 4 ) respectively based on their morphological, biochemical and molecular characteristics. The β-glucosidases activity of these three potential cellulolytic bacteria was performed by measuring the release of PNP using pNPG as a substrate and interestingly D 4 strain was resulted with β-glucosidases negative where B 1 strain was found to have efficient for β-glucosidases activity.

Microbial cellulases have been drawing attention worldwide because of their massive capacity to process the most abundant cellulosic biomass into sustainable biofuels and other valuable products. Profitable biomass conversion processes are highly dependent on the use of efficient enzymes for lignocellulose degradation. Among the cellulose degrading enzymes, β-glucosidases are essential for efficient hydrolysis of cellulosic biomass as they relieve the inhibition of the cellobiohydrolases and endoglucanases by reducing cellobiose accumulation. In this study cellulolytic bacteria with potential β-glucosidases activity were isolated and screened from biogas plant effluent and dairy effluent near Jahangirnagar University campus. From initial screening a total of 16 isolates were found to have cellulolytic activity, among them three isolates (B1, B5, D4) were selected based on their superior results. All the three bacterial isolates were identified as B. subtilis (B1), Bacillus amyloliquefaciens (B5) and B. subtilis (D4) respectively based on their morphological, biochemical and molecular characteristics. The β-glucosidases activity of these three potential cellulolytic bacteria was performed by measuring the release of PNP using pNPG as a substrate and interestingly D4 strain was resulted with β-glucosidases negative where B1 strain was found to have efficient for β-glucosidases activity.