Evidence involving electrophile compounds of tomato with the thermotolerance in C elegans

BONACCI, GUSTAVO; CARRANZA, ANDREA V; ASÍS, RAMÓN

Córdoba

Congreso; Reunión SAIB 2016; 2016

Sociedad Argentina de Investigación en Bioquímica y Biología Molecular

Tomato has been recognized to provide health benefits based mostly on their antioxidant property. In this work, we proposed that electrophile compounds could also contribute to the beneficial effects of tomato. Therefore, we have evaluated the electrophilic activity in tomato fruit with different colors, and the ability of electrophilic extracts to confer thermal stress resistance (thermotolerance) in a model of stress adaptation in Caernohabditis elegans (C. elegans). To quantify the electrophilic activity in tomato fruit, we optimized a spectrophotometer method using p-nitrobenzenethiol as substrate. Electrophilic activity and pigment profile was detected and measured in chloroformic but not in aqueous- methanolic extracts. Correlation analysis showed a strong association between electrophilic activity and β carotene content. Moreover, we have used the electrophile compound 1-Chloro-2,4-dinitrobenzene as an approach to demonstrate electrophile-induce thermotolerance in C. elegans. In addition, chloroform extracts from different tomato fruit manifested diverse thermotolerance activities that were positively associated with their electrophilic activity. All these results provide evidence that β carotene-derived electrophiles could be contributing to the beneficial effects of tomato fruit through stress adaptation.