Tissue differentiation in the central carbon metabolism of tomato fruit

Tomato fruit is composed of various tissue types, including columella, septa, pericarp, locular gel, and seeds, each having different cell sizes and pore connectivity that can impact their gas diffusion properties.
The respiration metabolism, which involves the consumption of O₂ and the production of CO₂, can be influenced by the different gas diffusion properties of different tissues, resulting in variations in the central carbon metabolism.
In this study, columella, septa and mesocarp tissue were separated and fed with ¹³C₆ glucose.
GC-MS was used to track the changes in metabolite concentrations over a 24-h experiment and to gather the isotope labelling information.
The results indicated that, with decreasing level of O₂, the concentration of fumaric acid, an intermediate of the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle, decreased, while the concentration of lactic acid increased.
Among the different tissues, mesocarp and septa tissue exhibited a similar carbon label enrichment and respiration activity, both lower than those of columella tissue.

VII International Conference Postharvest Unlimited

X. Li, M. Hertog, B. Nicolaï

tissue differentiation, the central carbon metabolism, metabolomics, fluxomics

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2024.1396.6