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Belladona berries are notoriously deadly. Tomatoes belong to the same plant family, Solanaceaeand also produce toxic steroid glycalcaloids. However, in general, tomatoes do not kill us.
Other times considered poisonous, and until when it arrived in Europe, the tomatoes (Solanum lycopersicum) can convert their bitter toxins into something more tasty – and less deadly.
In a new study, the biologist Feng Baifrom the University of Sichuan, and his colleagues now identified the genetic mechanisms involved in the safe transformation of the tomato.
Solanaceae use steroidal glycoaloids as natural defense against the pests. These molecules are thought to interfere with the membranes of animal cells, damaging them and causing cell death.
As potatoes, another member of this toxic familyhave been cultivated to have safe levels of these compounds, although they may release them when damaged or exposed to large amounts of light.
In humans, this glycoalcaloid substance has a unpleasantly bitter taste, explains the.
A Excessive intake causes a feeling of ardor In the mouth, followed by symptoms that include nausea, cramps, slow pulse and reduced breathing, vomiting, diarrhea, internal bleeding and stomach injuries.
But these plants also need their seeds to disperseand the animals are great in this. Thus, in some plants, as seeds with seeds mature, toxic chemicals bitter are converted in something more tasty to attract the “seed taxis” that coconut.
Ba and his team found that in tomatoes, the chemicals that make the fruits red, soft and sweet also coordinate decomposition of the toxic glycalcalhalical in a less toxic compound called Scaleosído a.
“This helps to ensure that high levels of toxic steroid glycalcaloids remain in immature fruits to maintain resistance against herbivorous attacks, ensuring that the fruits reach the seed ripening phase,” the team explains in his, published this week on Science Advances.
Deliciously fruity plants use epigenetic regulation To control the waterfall of changes necessary to make your generosity safe for us to eat.
Specifically, a protein called DML2 allows the gene reading machinery to access the genes involved in the elimination of toxins, removing metyl groups, which act as molecular signsof a specific part of genetic chromosome – a process called distelation.
When investigators genetically disabled the creation of DML2 in tomatoes, the fruits produced continued to contain high levels of steroidal glycalcaloids.
By comparing the genes involved in other related plants, Bai and his team also found that the DI -DNA disadvantage caused by DML2 increased during the domestication of the tomato, which transformed the plants of small berry producers in large red fruits breeders.
However, gene levels that support steroidal glycoaloids have also decreased. At the moment, Even green tomatoes can be consumed – In moderation.
These changes eventually made this culture protective of the healthier intestines for all of us to devour – and, in return, we spread the tomatoes through new continents.
