Difference in volatile profile between pericarp tissue and locular gel in tomato fruit

Authors: WANG, LIBIN - Yangzhou University; Bai, Jinhe; YU, ZHIFANG - Nanjing Agricultural University

Submitted to: Journal of Integrative Agriculture
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 3/7/2016
Publication Date: 12/23/2016
Citation: Wang, L., Bai, J., Yu, Z. 2016. Difference in volatile profile between pericarp tissue and locular gel in tomato fruit. Journal of Integrative Agriculture. 15(12):2911-2920.

Interpretive Summary: Tomatoes have been recognized as model fruit plant for volatile metabolic studies, but research biologists used different approaches to prepare fruit tissue samples in which only pericarp tissue has been used to avoid inconsistence caused by seeds and other inner tissues, in comparison with food scientists and horticulturists, which usually homogenize the entire fruit for volatile analysis samples. In this research, we compared the volatile profiles resulted by the two different sampling methods, and confirmed that the inner tissues had substantial difference in the volatile profiles in comparison to the pericarp tissue, indicating that one should not directly compare volatile data between whole fruit samples and pericarp samples.

Technical Abstract: Aroma, a complex mixture of volatile compounds, plays an important role in the perception and acceptability of tomato products by consumers. Numerous studies have reported volatile profiles in tomatoes based on measurement of the whole fruit or pericarp tissue, however, little is understood regarding the volatile compositions in the inner tissues. The objective of this study was to investigate the differences in volatile profile between pericarp tissue and locular gel in tomato fruit. Based on HS-SPME-GC-MS analysis, totally 42 volatile compounds were detected in FL 47 and Tasti Lee tomato fruits. Regardless of cultivars, a substantial higher concentration of total volatile compounds was observed in pericarp than that in locular gel, associated with higher levels of aldehydes, hydrocarbons, and nitrogen compounds. Pericarp tissue possessed higher levels of cis-3-hexenal, hexanal, heptanal, octanal, nonanal, cymene, terpinolene, undecane, dodecane, 2-phenylethanol, 6-methyl-5-hepten-2-one, 2-methylbutyl acetate, 1-nitro-pentane, and 1-nitro-2-phenylethane, while the abundances of 2-methylpropanal, butanal, 2-methylbutanal, 2-methyl-2-butenal, 2-methylpropanol, 3-methylbutanol, 2-methylbutanol, and 2-butanone were higher in locular gel. Principal component analysis (PCA) and cluster analysis using GC-MS and E-nose data discriminated the two tissues.