Supplemental blue and red light promote lycopene synthesis in tomato fruits

Abstract

Lycopene, one of the strongest natural antioxidants known and the main carotene in ripe tomato, is very important for human health. Light is well known to be one of the most important environmental stimuli influencing lycopene biosynthesis; specifically, red light induces higher lycopene content in tomato. However, whether blue light promotes lycopene synthesis remains elusive and exactly how light stimulation promotes lycopene synthesis remains unclear. We applied supplemental blue and red lighting on tomato plants at anthesis to monitor the effect of supplemental blue and red lighting on lycopene synthesis. Our results showed that supplemental blue/red lighting induced higher lycopene content in tomato fruits; furthermore, we found that the expression of key genes in the lycopene synthesis pathway was induced by supplemented blue/red light. The expression of light signaling components, such as red-light receptor phytochromes (PHYs), blue-light receptor cryptochromes (CRYs) and light interaction factors, phytochrome-interacting factors (PIFs) and ELONGATED HYPOCOTYL 5 (HY5) were up-or down-regulated by blue/red lighting. Thus, blue and red light increased lycopene content in tomatoes by inducing light receptors that modulate HY5 and PIFs activation to mediate phytoene synthase 1 (PSY1) gene expression. These results provide a sound theoretical basis for further elucidation of the light regulating mechanism of lycopene synthesis in tomatoes, and for instituting a new generation of technological innovations for the enhancement of lycopene accumulation in crop production.

Characterization of the FLAVIN-BINDING, KELCH REPEAT, F-BOX 1 Homolog SlFKF1 in Tomato as a Model for Plants with Fleshy Fruit

“…In this study, the effect of blue-light irradiation on lycopene concentration in fruit was measured during cultivation. Although the effects of blue-light irradiation on lycopene concentration have been investigated in previous reports [ 46 , 47 ], their experimental conditions were different from this study. The effects of supplemental blue light over a long period after flowering in a greenhouse [ 46 ] and blue-light irradiation after harvest [ 47 ] have been investigated in previous reports.…”

Increase of Yield, Lycopene, and Lutein Content in Tomatoes Grown Under Continuous PAR Spectrum LED Lighting

“…Alba et al (2000) reported that red light promotes and far-red light reduces lycopene biosynthesis and that this effect is mediated by photochromes. Xie et al (2019) have analyzed tomatoes exposed to blue and red LEDs on a gene expression level using qRT-PCR. They found out that blue and red light increased the lycopene concentration in tomatoes by inducing light receptors that modulate phytochrome-interacting factors and ELONGATED HYPOCOTYL 5 activations to mediate phytoene synthase 1 (PSY).…”

“…Additional far-red light in combination with red LEDs and HPS appears to increase total fruit number. It has also been shown that the exposure to supplementary red and blue LED lighting increases the lycopene and ß-carotene content (Xie et al, 2019;Ngcobo et al, 2020).…”

Impact of Silicon Nanoparticles on the Antioxidant Compounds of Tomato Fruits Stressed by Arsenic

“…However, tomato fruit is also important in the human diet because it can provide vitamins and a wide range of bioactive molecules [2], such as vitamins C and E, flavonoids, and phenols [3]. Lycopene is one of the strongest natural antioxidants known and is the main carotene in ripe tomatoes [4], and together with β-carotene, it is effective in eliminating peroxyl radicals [5]. These compounds seem to play a…”