BIOCHEMICAL EXTRACTIONS OF CAROTENOIDS IN TOMATO CALLUS AND ANALYSIS BY HIGH PERFORMANCE LIQUID CHROMATOGRAPHY (HPLC)

Abstract

Tomato is a food distributed worldwide and has high nutritional value, such as the supply of carotenoids. Carotenoids are the most important precursors of Vitamin A, with emphasis on beta-carotene due to its greater efficiency in converting into vitamin A. Considering that this vitamin has been the one with the greatest impact on human malnutrition, the biofortification of tomato plants with beta-carotene, could result in more nutritious plants and help reduce malnutrition. Biofortification is a technique carried out to improve the nutritional potential of foods, aiming to obtain higher levels or concentrations of nutritional compounds per kg of mass produced. In this context, the use of plant tissue culture techniques is a strategy for the in vitro production of metabolites. Given this, promising techniques will be carried out to meet the project's objective, such as the biochemical extraction of carotenoids (Jäpelt et al., 2013) and analyzes by High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC), using reference standards for the quantification of these compounds in samples. Since the Institute of Sciences of Food Production (Lecce, Italy) has stood out with the presence of professionals working in this area of plant improvement, especially in the biofortification of tomato plants, the research internship abroad promises not only to strengthen the results already found in the current research project, but also contribute significantly to the advancement of scientific knowledge and new discoveries.