Abstract
Glucosinolates are secondary plant metabolites present in Brassica vegetables. The endogenous enzyme myrosinase is responsible for the hydrolysis of glucosinolates, yielding a variety of compounds, including health-promoting isothiocyanates. The influence of cabbage accession and growing conditions on myrosinase activity, glucosinolates (GSL) and their hydrolysis products (GHPs) of 18 gene-bank cabbage accessions was studied. Growing conditions, cabbage morphotype and accession all significantly affected myrosinase activity and concentration of glucosinolates and their hydrolysis products. In general, cabbages grown in the field with lower growth temperatures had significantly higher myrosinase activity than glasshouse samples. Profile and concentration of glucosinolates and their hydrolysis products differed across the accessions studied. Aliphatic glucosinolates accounted for more than 60 % of total glucosinolates in most of the samples assessed. Nitriles and epithionitriles were the most abundant hydrolysis products formed. The results obtained showed that consumption of raw cabbages might reduce the amount of beneficial hydrolysis products available to the consumer, as more nitriles were produced from hydrolysis compared to beneficial isothiocyanates. However, red and white cabbages contained high concentrations of glucoraphanin and its isothiocyanate, sulforaphane. This implies that careful selection of accessions with ample concentrations of certain glucosinolates can improve the health benefits derived from raw cabbage consumption.
Highlights
Cabbage (Brassica oleracea) belongs to the Brassicaceae family and comprises eight distinct cultivar groups, all descended from wild cabbage (B. oleracea var. oleracea) [1]
In line with the primary hypothesis of the study, the results demonstrated that myrosinase activity as well as profiles and concentrations of GSLs and glucosinolate hydrolysis products (GHPs) were all influenced by growing conditions, cabbage morphotypes and accession
In agreement with our secondary hypothesis, the profile and concentration of GSLs and GHPs formed were substantially more influenced by cabbage morphotype than accession
Summary
Cabbage (Brassica oleracea) belongs to the Brassicaceae family and comprises eight distinct cultivar groups, all descended from wild cabbage (B. oleracea var. oleracea) [1]. Cabbage (Brassica oleracea) belongs to the Brassicaceae family and comprises eight distinct cultivar groups, all descended from wild cabbage Epidemiological studies have shown that the consumption of Brassica vegetables reduces the risks of cardiovascular diseases and cancer [2] and is reported to have a cytoprotective effect against tissue damage associated with oxidative stress as well as antimicrobial activity against bacterial and fungal pathogens [3,4]. Brassica vegetables are unique in comparison to other vegetables because they contain the enzyme myrosinase and a group of thioglucosides called glucosinolates (GSLs). GSLs are sulphur and nitrogen containing biologically active secondary metabolites found in plants of the order Capparales, which includes the Brassicaceae family and other economically important agricultural crops [5,6,7]. A recent review by Blaževicet al. [11] stated that between 88–137 glucosinolates (GSLs) have been characterised in plants to date
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