Elsevier

Industrial Crops and Products

Volume 62, December 2014, Pages 61-66
Industrial Crops and Products

Plants as biofactories: Stress-induced production of chlorogenic acid isomers in potato tubers as affected by wounding intensity and storage time

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indcrop.2014.08.018Get rights and content

Highlights

  • The use of wounded-potatoes as biofactories of phenolics (PC) was evaluated.

  • Different wounding intensities were tested (slices, pie-cuts and shreds).

  • Slices and pie-cuts showed the highest PC content at 96 h of storage.

  • The accumulation of specific PC was manipulated by wounding and storage time.

Abstract

In the present study, the feasibility of using wounded-potato tubers as biofactories of antioxidant phenolic compounds (PC) was evaluated. Potato tubers were wounded to obtain different wounding intensities (slices, pie-cuts, and shreds) and stored for 144 h at 10 °C. The accumulation of total and individual PC was determined during storage of the wounded-tissue. Results indicated that the highest accumulation of total PC was obtained at 96 h of storage for slices and pie-cuts. At this storage time, slices and pie-cuts showed 100% and 65% higher total PC content, respectively, whereas shredded-potatoes showed 40% lower PC content as compared with wholes before storage. The main PCs identified in wounded-potatoes were chlorogenic acid (CGA), neo-chlorogenic acid (neo-CGA), and crypto-chlorogenic acid (crypto-CGA). Results also indicated that selecting the wounding intensity to apply and storage time could manipulate the accumulation of specific PC in potato tubers. For instance, if the production of CGA or crypto-CGA were desirable, potato tubers should be wounded to obtain slices and pie-cuts. Likewise, to produce neo-CGA the appropriate wounding intensity should be pie-cuts. Furthermore, the highest accumulation of CGA and neo-CGA in wounded-potatoes was obtained at 96 h of storage, whereas for the crypto-CGA its highest accumulation was observed in wounded-potatoes stored for 144 h at 10 °C. The stressed-potato tubers with increased concentrations of chlorogenic acids could be used as a starting material for the extraction of high value antioxidant PC with potential applications in the pharmaceutical and dietary supplements industries.

Introduction

Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) is one of the most important crops around the world. In the year 2012, ∼324 million tons were produced worldwide (FAOSTAT, 2012). However, in the US supply chain ∼6% of potato production is lost due to poor postharvest practices (USDA, 2012). Alternative uses for potatoes considered as waste should be of interest for the potato industry. In the past few years, the use of stressed-plants as biofactories of phenolic compounds (PC) has been proposed as an alternative use for horticultural crops (Jacobo-Velázquez and Cisneros-Zevallos, 2012).

When potato tubers are subjected to wounding stress, chlorogenic acids (CGAs) are produced and converted into lignin and suberin during the wound-healing process (Gamborg, 1967, Dean and Kolattukudy, 1977, Friedman, 1997, Lulai and Corsini, 1998, Bernards et al., 2000, Bernards and Razem, 2001, Mattila and Hellström, 2007). The CGAs are PC with potential applications for the treatment and prevention of Alzheimer (Kim et al., 2005), obesity (Thom, 2007), hepatitis B (Wang et al., 2009), and cancer (Yagasaki et al., 2000, Aggarwal and Shishodia, 2006, Kurata et al., 2007, Noratto et al., 2009, Weng and Yen, 2012). Therefore, the application of wounding-stress in potato could be used as an emerging technology to induce the production of CGAs. The stressed-tissue can be subjected to downstream processing to recover and purify CGAs with potential applications in the pharmaceutical and dietary supplements industries.

However, depending on the wounding intensity applied in plant tissues, the biosynthesis and conversion rates of CGAs will change during storage time, and thus it is important to optimize the abiotic stress conditions that lead with the highest accumulation of CGAs. Therefore, the present project objective was to evaluate the effect of wounding intensity and storage time (144 h at 10 °C) on the accumulation of total and individual PC in potato tubers.

Section snippets

Chemicals

Ferulic acid (FA), p-coumaric acid (p-CA), chlorogenic acid (CGA), methanol (HPLC grade), water (HPLC grade), orthophosphoric acid and formic acid were purchased from Sigma Chemical Co. (St. Louis, MO, USA).

Plant material, processing and storage study

White potatoes (S. tuberosum L.) were obtained from a local market (HEB, Monterrey, N.L. Mexico), sorted, washed and disinfected with chlorinated water (200 ppm, pH 6.5). Three different wounding intensities were prepared (slices, pie-cuts and shreds) as shown in Fig. 1. Whole potatoes were

Effect of wounding stress and storage time on the accumulation of total phenolic compounds (PC) of potato tissue

The total PC content of samples was determined before and during 144 h of storage (Fig. 2). The application of wounding stress to obtain slices and pie-cuts produced a significant increase (p < 0.05) on the total PC content of potato tubers during storage at 10 °C. However, when potato tubers were treated with the highest wounding intensity (shredded-potatoes), samples showed a significant decrease (p < 0.05) on the concentration of total PC. Likewise, no significant change (p > 0.05) on the total PC

Discussion

It is well known that wounding stress induces the phenylpropanoid metabolism in plants (Dixon and Paiva, 1995). In the particular case of potatoes, PC biosynthesized during the wound-healing process are utilized for the biosynthesis of suberin and lignin (Gamborg, 1967, Lulai and Corsini, 1998, Bernards et al., 2000, Bernards and Razem, 2001). Both polymers are produced as a defense mechanism to prevent water loss in wounded-plant tissues (Lulai and Corsini, 1998, Bernards and Razem, 2001,

Conclusion

The present study demonstrated the potential use of wounded-potato tubers as biofactories for the production of chlorogenic acid isomers. Furthermore, results demonstrated that the profile of PC accumulated in the wounded-tissue could be easily manipulated by wounding intensity and storage time to trigger the production of specific chlorogenic acid isomers. The wounded-potato with increased concentrations of chlorogenic acids could be used as a starting material for the extraction of high value

Acknowledgments

This study is based upon research supported by research funds from the Tecnológico de Monterrey – Research Chair Initiative (CAT 161) and Cátedra de Nutrigenómica – FEMSA, and Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (CONACYT, México) Grant (177012). Author A.M.T.-C. also acknowledge the scholarship (279532) from the Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (CONACYT, México).

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