Polyphenols as Chemotaxonomic Markers in Italian “Long-Storage” Tomato Genotypes

Abstract

"Long-storage" tomato ( Solanum lycopersicum L.) is a niche product typical of the Mediterranean area, traditionally cultivated under no water supply, the fruits of which combine a good taste with excellent nutritional properties. High-performance liquid chromatography coupled with diode array detection and electron spray-mass spectrometry (HPLC/DAD/ESI-MS) was used to identify the phenolic profile in 10 landraces of long-storage tomato, grown under a typical semiarid climate, as compared to a processing tomato hybrid cultivated in the same environment, under both well-irrigated and unirrigated conditions. Sixteen different secondary metabolites, belonging to the classes of cinnamoylquinic acids and flavonoids, were identified. Quantitative analyses were also performed to monitor the changes in the phenolic content along the batch. The results highlighted that landraces originating from the same area exhibit different fruit morphologies but own a similar biochemical profile. Moreover, the two controls (well irrigated and unirrigated) are placed into the same cluster, suggesting that these secondary metabolites in tomato fruits may be more genetics-dependent than environment-dependent. Given the analysis of phenols nowadays represents a useful tool to assess the genetic variability in tomato, these compounds could be adopted as chemotaxonomic markers in the traceability of this niche product.

Effects of processing on the polyphenol and phenolic acid content and antioxidant capacity of semi‐dried cherry tomatoes (Lycopersicon esculentum M.)

“…Quantitative or qualitative LC‐MS data on phenolic components in tomato‐based products are generally lacking, although many papers have studied the composition of different cultivars of fresh tomatoes . The differing flavonol levels in tomato fruits found in different studies are probably due to the variety, state of ripeness, light, temperature, climatic growing conditions or soil .…”

“…Phenols have recently gained attention as effective chemotaxonomic markers . In this investigation we assessed the content of phenolic compounds quantitatively using HPLC, while LC‐MS was used to observe what happened to the tomato phenols qualitatively.…”

Sugar-and-acid profile of Penjar tomatoes and its evolution during storage

“…: ripening inhibitor (rin) (Robinson and Tomes, 1968)) and others have been found in landraces. In Europe, long-storage landraces (Bota et al, 2014;Casals et al, 2012;Siracusa et al, 2012) are highly valued by local consumers, especially in Italy and Spain, where they are traditionally consumed after a storage period that confers a specific sensory profile. For these special tomatoes, the postharvest period could be referred to as the "aging phase" (Watada et al, 1984), because it involves a series of changes in quality parameters after maturity and before consumption.…”

Chemotaxonomy

“…HPLC-DAD/ESI-MS was used to identify the phenolic profile in 10 landraces of long-storage tomato (Siracusa et al, 2012), grown under a typical semiarid climate, as compared to a processing tomato hybrid cultivated in the same environment, under both well-irrigated and unirrigated conditions. HPLC-DAD/ESI-MS was used to identify the phenolic profile in 10 landraces of long-storage tomato (Siracusa et al, 2012), grown under a typical semiarid climate, as compared to a processing tomato hybrid cultivated in the same environment, under both well-irrigated and unirrigated conditions.…”