Abstract
Sweet corn kernels were used in this research to study the dynamics of vitamin E, by evaluatingthe expression levels of genes involved in vitamin E synthesis, the accumulation of vitamin E, and the antioxidant activity during the different stage of kernel development. Results showed that expression levels of ZmHPT and ZmTC genes increased, whereas ZmTMT gene dramatically decreased during kernel development. The contents of all the types of vitamin E in sweet corn had a significant upward increase during kernel development, and reached the highest level at 30 days after pollination (DAP). Amongst the eight isomers of vitamin E, the content of γ-tocotrienol was the highest, and increased by 14.9 folds, followed by α-tocopherolwith an increase of 22 folds, and thecontents of isomers γ-tocopherol, α-tocotrienol, δ-tocopherol,δ-tocotrienol, and β-tocopherol were also followed during kernel development. The antioxidant activity of sweet corn during kernel development was increased, and was up to 101.8 ± 22.3 μmol of α-tocopherol equivlent/100 g in fresh weight (FW) at 30 DAP. There was a positive correlation between vitamin E contents and antioxidant activity in sweet corn during the kernel development, and a negative correlation between the expressions of ZmTMT gene and vitamin E contents. These results revealed the relations amongst the content of vitamin E isomers and the gene expression, vitamin E accumulation, and antioxidant activity. The study can provide a harvesting strategy for vitamin E bio-fortification in sweet corn.
Highlights
Vitamin E is recognized as the most important lipid-soluble, chain-breaking antioxidant in the human body, whose deficiency may lead to neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease, cystic fibrosis, and autosomal recessive ataxias [1]
The group of vitamin E family consists of tocopherols(T) and tocotrienols(T3), both of which have four isomers: α, β, γ, and δ-forms, according to the number and position of methyl groups at the chromanol ring system, and they are collectively known as tocochromanols or tocols [3]
We explored the expression levels of genes involved in vitamin E synthesis, the accumulation of vitamin E, and the antioxidant activity of sweet corn extracts
Summary
Vitamin E is recognized as the most important lipid-soluble, chain-breaking antioxidant in the human body, whose deficiency may lead to neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease, cystic fibrosis, and autosomal recessive ataxias [1]. There has been an increase in research focusing on the functions of tocotrienols in recent years. Those studies reveals that tocotrienols possess powerful neuroprotective, antioxidant, anti-cancer, and cholesterol lowering properties, which often differed from the properties of tocopherols [6]. Some findings indicated that tocotrienols were promising anticancer agents for minimizing tumor angiogenesis [8] Both δ-T3 and (to a lesser extent) γ-T3 were more active than α-T and α-T3 in diminishing diet-induced metabolic syndrome in rats, increasing the intake of γ-T3, and δ-T3 may serve as a complementary dietary strategy in managing this syndrome [9]
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