ARS | Publication request: COMPARATIVE FRUIT COLORATION IN WATERMELON AND TOMATO

Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: February 8, 2004
Publication Date: June 14, 2004
Citation: Tadmor, Y., King, S., Levi, A., Davis, A.R., Hirschberg, J. 2004. Comparative fruit coloration in watermelon and tomato. Meeting Abstract. 3rd International Congress on Pigments in Food, L. Dufosse (ed.) (France). pg 400-402.

Technical Abstract: Watermelon exhibits a wide range of fruit flesh colour mutations. However, very little is known about carotenoid biosynthesis in watermelon fruits. To infer the molecular basis of lycopene and carotenoid biosynthesis data on carotenoid composition in yellow, orange and red flesh watermelon accessions were compared with these in tomato fruit colour mutants. The data indicated similarities between watermelon and tomato fruit flesh colours and carotenoid content. HPLC analysis indicated that red watermelon contains mainly lycopene, the light yellow watermelon contains trace amounts of the chloroplast carotenoids lutein and B-carotene, while the white flesh watermelon did not have any detectable amounts of carotenoids. Tomato and watermelon accumulate lycopene as their major fruit carotenoid. The lycopene mutations in watermelon might be orthologous to the r, t, og and B tomato mutations affecting lycopene biosynthesis.