Carotenoid compounds are one of the largest classes of natural pigments known. They perform essential roles in plant development and provide tolerance to biotic and abiotic stresses. Carotenoids are essential for human health but cannot be synthesised de novo in the body, instead they must be acquired from our diet. The health benefits of dietary acquired carotenoids in the prevention of disease states such as blindness, certain cancers, eye disease and cardiovascular disease are well documented. Many carotenoids can be categorised as high-value fine chemicals with widespread use in the food, feed, cosmetic, health and pharma sectors as colourants, health supplements and phytomedicines. For example, annual sales of carotenoid pigments are over $1 billion and increasing rapidly (18%/yr.), as the demand for natural carotenoids outstrips supply.
Over the last decade the host laboratory has successfully characterised carotenoid formation in tomato fruit and manipulated the levels using genetic engineering approaches. The novel lines generated have been characterised using multi-omic techniques performed in parallel. Tomato is a globally important crop with an economic value of $10s bn and relevant in supplying essential vitamins, minerals and phytochemicals in the human diet. Carotenoids in fruit products are also associated with quality traits such as colour, taste and flavour. Ripe fruits are also used as renewable sources for isoprenoids typically used as flavours and colourants. More recently tomato fruit as a sink tissue has been shown to act as a Generally Regarded As Safe (GRAS) renewable source of high-value feed additives used in aquaculture, replacing chemical synthesis from petrochemical derived precursors.
Our work has also demonstrated that altering carotenoid content in tomato fruit for improved quality fruits can have major effects on the rest of metabolism. In addition altered carotenoid can also lead to changes in cellular structures such as plastids and their plastoglobule content. In the proposed project we will use our in-house collection of transgenic, gene edited and mutant lines, with altered carotenoid contents to advance our present understanding of carotenoid formation and sequestration in tomato fruits and how this will impact on nutritional consumer quality traits. The following objectives will be pursued:
(i) Determine the molecular and biochemical interplay between carotenoid biosynthesis and intermediary metabolism. This aspect of the project will use modern omic technologies such as metabolomics, proteomics and transcriptomics to identify the reprogramming of metabolism to accommodate elevated carotenoid contents.
(ii) How carotenoid content can alter cellular structures such as the type of plastid type present (e.g. chloroplast or chromoplast) and their plastoglobule content/composition.
In all cases gene-editing approaches to modulate and validate candidate gene products will be employed in association with omic based metabolite, protein and transcript analysis.
The applicants’ laboratory is a vibrant, well equipped and funded environment. The laboratory is an active participant in COST ACTIONS and EU projects. These networks provide excellent training opportunities and access to specialist advice and facilities. The group has dedicated analytical apparatus; GC-MS (x 3) including one unit set-up for volatiles, GC-FID, HPLC-PDA (x2), a HPLC-PDA-radiodetector, UPLC-PDA and real-time PCR machines. Plant growth facilities include a glasshouse, controlled tissue culture room and chambers. A state of the art analytical suite, with complementary MS platforms, serving both metabolomic and proteomic applications has been established, along with a large computer blade. This facility has recently been upgraded with a £1.2 million College capital investment fund. The College has also recently invested 0ver £1.0 million in new state of the art glasshouses and a polytunnel.
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