Tomatoes can help produce important compounds

Scientists from the UK have developed a new method that allows the production of useful compounds in large quantities. The research group of Yan Zhang from the John Innes Research Centre used tomato plants for growing, as they are highly productive, and the method can be used on an industrial scale.

Scientists intend to grow phenylpropanoids, which include a number of useful substances, such as genistein, resveratrol. These useful substances are produced by plants to protect against various parasites, in particular, fungi, bacteria, and some of them help prevent a number of cancerous tumors.

In order for tomatoes to start producing useful compounds, the researchers used Arabidopsis thaliana, a small flowering plant of the cabbage family. Arabidopsis grows on almost all continents, and this plant contains a protein that activates genes responsible for metabolic pathways, thereby promoting the production of useful compounds. As the scientists noted, the more protein a plant contains, the more compounds are ultimately produced.

The researchers noted an interesting fact: if you introduce protein into a plant, you can not only increase the amount of compounds produced, but also help the plant produce more energy, which is necessary for the plant to produce all these substances.

One tomato contains as much rosuveratrol as 3.5 liters of wine, and the amount of genistein is as much as 2.5 kg of tofu (soy cheese, an analogue of our cottage cheese, which contains a large amount of protein).

According to the developers, the fact that tomatoes are an agricultural crop and are highly productive (approximately 500 tons of harvest can be obtained from one hectare) is why tomatoes are the best alternative to the production of medicinal compounds in laboratory conditions.

Thanks to the development of the new method, valuable compounds can be produced on an industrial scale using familiar plants, experts also note that this method will allow the production of other products obtained from aromatic amino acids. As one of the scientists noted, useful plants are quite difficult to grow, as they require special care, but the new method has shown a simply amazing result - important compounds in large quantities can be obtained from ordinary tomato juice. According to the lead author of the research project, the work of his colleagues can be useful for other areas, for example, in microbial engineering, research into the properties of plants, products, as well as in the field of dietary nutrition and health care.

The team believes that the tomato study is the basis for a method for quickly and easily producing health-promoting compounds, and that with some tweaks, the method could be used to produce other, equally beneficial compounds.