Comparative Study of the Carotenoid Composition of the Seeds of Ripening Momordica charantia and Tomatoes

Abstract

The total carotenoid concentration of the seeds of Momordica charantia rose about 100-fold from the immature to the ripe stage. The massive increase was almost exclusively attributable to lycopene, which accounted for 96% of the carotenoids of the ripe seeds. The carotenoid pattern of the seed was found to be drastically different from that of the pericarp. The seed, which contained fewer carotenoids, had a total concentration 12 times greater than that Ripe cherry tomatoes, Lycopersicon esculentum var. Cerasiforme (Dun.) A. Gray, were purchased from a local fruit market. The cherry variety was used because the seeds were easier to separate. The seeds from 900 g of fruits were separated from the pericarp and washed with water on a sieve to remove juice and residual pulp. The water was drained and the seeds were air dried on the sieve for a couple of hours. Four 30-g samples were taken and analyzed separately.In addition to the authentic carotenoids used for comparison in the preceding study, lycoxanthin and rubixanthin were extracted and purified from Solanum dulcamara and rose hips, respectively.Extraction and Separation of Carotenoids. The carotenoids of the seeds of both fruits were extracted and saponified in the same manner described for the pericarp (17). The saponified pigments from the ripe and partly ripe Momordica samples were separated initially on a column of alumina (activity grade III), using 1 to 5% (v/v) ethyl ether in petroleum ether as solvent. Fraction 4 was rechromatographed on a MgO-HyfloSupercel (1:2) column developed with 25% (v/v) acetone in petroleum ether, resulting in the formation of five bands (fractions 4-a to 4-e). If necessary, these bands could be purified on a silica gel plate (Quanta Gram TLC plates QIF, Quantum Industries, New Jersey) with 3%C (v/v) methanol in benzene as the developing solvent. The pigments extracted from the immature seeds separated into four bands on the alumina column. These fractions consisted of single carotenoids and thus needed no further separation. The topmost fraction of pigments from mature samples consisted of three components when rechromatographed on a silica gel plate developed with 3% (v/v) methanol in benzene. As in the previous study, the colorless eluate preceding the fluorescent phytofluene band was collected and examined for the presence of phytoene.The tomato seed carotenoids were fractionated as described for the whole fruit (15) except that lycopene was subsequently separated from the xanthophylls on an alumina column (activity grade III) developed with 1 to 5% (v/v)

Integrating Optical Imaging Tools for Rapid and Non-invasive Characterization of Seed Quality: Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) and Carrot (Daucus carota L.) as Study Cases

“…In this study, higher reflectance of low-quality seedlots was associated with immature seeds present in the lot ( Figure 9 ). The major pigments of tomato seeds are lycopene and β-carotene (Rodriguez et al, 1975 ; Vági et al, 2007 ; Eller et al, 2010 ), which absorb light in the UVA/blue regions of the spectrum (Srivastava, 2002 ; Power et al, 2019 ). Thus, lower reflectance in high-quality tomato seedlots at 365 nm may be attributed to greater light-absorbing capacity of carotenoids in mature seeds.…”

Secondary Metabolites

“…A novel carotenoid (xanthophyll) derivative, lutein-3-acetate, extracted from senescing leaves of rice, was isolated and purified using silica gel TLC (Kusaba, 2009). Phytofluene, -carotene, ζ-carotene, lycopene, zeinoxanthin, cryptoxanthin and lutein ( Figure 10) were separated from ripe and partly ripe Mormodica charantia seeds and tomatoes through Al 2 O 3 and MgO CC (Rodriguez et al, 1975). The main carotenoid (xanthophyll) in the orange muscle of Yesso scallop was isolated and purified by acetone extraction and silica gel CC.…”

Pigments in Vegetables

“…The carotenoids of the balsam or seeds, which have a brilliant red color, were also investigated at four ripening stages (Rodriguez et al, 1975). In fact, it is probable that the seed coating and not the seeds themselves were analyzed (Shrivastava, 1972).…”

“…The qualitative and quantitative carotenoid distribution is shown in Table 20. Source: From Rodriguez et al (1975), by permission of the copyright owner, ASPP. Note: tr = trace.…”

“…Carotenoids of cherry tomato seeds with a total carotenoid content of 23.7 J1.g (g fresh wt)-I were predominantly carotenes (98010) (Rodriguez et al, 1975). They consisted of phytofluene (1.7%), a-carotene (2.5%), {3-carotene (54.4010), {3-zeacarotene (1.3%), 1'-carotene (3.4%), and lycopene (34.6%).…”