The Bronze tomato, a product of metabolic engineering, produces high levels of polyphenol due to the over-expression of genes such as VvStSy, AmDel/Rosea1, and AtMYB12. This modification, part of broader efforts to enhance plant nutritional value through specific biochemical alterations, results in ripe fruits with significantly higher antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties.
However, while these tomatoes show increased flavonols, anthocyanins, and stilbenes, the overall impact on other physiological processes and the total nutritional profile requires further exploration.
Horticulture Research published research titled "Engineering the polyphenolic biosynthetic pathway stimulates metabolic and molecular changes during fruit ripening in 'Bronze' tomato."
In this study, researchers analyzed the transcriptional and metabolic profiles of the Bronze tomato line at various ripening stages to understand how regulatory and structural transgenes affect primary and secondary metabolisms.
Read more at phys.org
