α-tomatine
compound / compound-alpha-tomatine
アルファ-トマチン
Α-tomatine is a bitter steroidal glycoalkaloid that accumulates in unripe tomato fruit and in the fully ripe fruit of wild lines.
On this page (8 sections)
Reading the bitterness
In wild mini tomatoes from Peru's Río Mayo valley, an association between high α-tomatine content and the bitterness of fully ripe fruit has been recorded. However, this is a description in which a later paper cites early research, and the original paper being cited has not been directly confirmed. Another study's abstract also identifies 9 bitter lines out of 650 lines, but the sensory-evaluation method and number of participants are unknown.
There is background explanation stating that α-tomatine accumulates in each tomato tissue, reaching particularly high concentrations in leaves and immature green fruit. This abstract also states that the compound causes bitterness, but it does not give specific concentration values or human sensory evaluation. Tissue distribution and perceived intensity cannot be treated as the same measured result.
In red-ripe fruit lacking the ripening regulator NOR or RIN, bitter steroidal glycoalkaloids such as α-tomatine increased significantly relative to wild type, while non-bitter esculeoside A decreased. This is a result from analyzing genetically modified fruit by LC-MS, and it does not measure the range of variation that occurs in ordinary ripening or the sensory bitterness intensity of the fruit.
Sources for this overview
Checked for this overview: Matched the association between high α-tomatine and bitterness in wild mini tomatoes from the Río Mayo valley, with the limitation that this is a citation of early research.
The GORKY glycoalkaloid transporter is indispensable for preventing tomato bitterness
Checked for this overview: Matched the abstract identifying 9 bitter lines out of 650 lines with the limitation that the sensory-evaluation method and number of participants are unknown.
Identification of α-Tomatine 23-Hydroxylase Involved in the Detoxification of a Bitter Glycoalkaloid
Checked for this overview: Matched the background description of accumulation in all tissues, high concentrations in leaves and immature green fruit, and bitterness, with the limitation that no concentration values or sensory evaluation are given.
Checked for this overview: Matched the change in glycoalkaloid levels in NOR-KO and RIN-KO red-ripe fruit with the limitation that this is genetically modified fruit assessed by chemical analysis, with no sensory measurement.
Follow the connections
α-tomatine →— sensory attribute→ bitterness →can be measured separately …→ astringency
tomato →contains→ α-tomatine
Structured claims — open a section to read each claim's confidence, evidence and limits
Composition and content (1)
Scope: Layer: food. The background description of α-tomatine tissue distribution and taste in a recombinant-protein study.
Note: Only the abstract was checked; the full text was not reached. The abstract gives no specific concentration values. Earlier claims concern the GAME31 mechanism by which ripe fruit loses bitterness; this claim adds the association of high concentration and bitterness in different tissues, immature fruit and leaves.
Show data
ingredient-tomato —contains→ compound-alpha-tomatineSensory (1)
Scope: Fully ripe fruit of wild cherry tomato (Solanum lycopersicum var. cerasiforme) from Peru's Río Mayo valley.
Note: Cárdenas et al. 2019 presents this association in its text as a citation of earlier work by Charles Rick and colleagues. It was not a new, independent human sensory test conducted by Cárdenas et al. themselves.
Show data
compound-alpha-tomatine —has_sensory_attribute→ sensation-bitterMechanism and receptors (1)
Scope: Layer: food. Comparison of red-ripe fruit from NOR-KO and RIN-KO tomato mutants with wild type; glycoside quantification by LC-MS and GAME gene-expression analysis by RT-qPCR.
Show data
compound-alpha-tomatine —occurs_in→ ingredient-tomato