Plant associate projects

Crops from the family Brassicaceae represent a diverse and very interesting group of plants. In addition, their close relationship with the model plant, Arabidopsis thaliana, makes combined research on these species both scientifically valuable and of considerable commercial importance. In the post-genomics era, much effort is being placed on expanding our capacity to use advanced technologies such as proteomics and metabolomics, to broaden our knowledge of the molecular organization of plants and how genetic differences are translated into phenotypic ones.

Sour cherry (Prunus cerasus), Laurel cherry (Prunus lauracerasus), and Cornelian cherry (Cornus mas) fruits are widely used in Turkey, both as food and as traditional medicines. The phytochemical composition and antioxidant capacities of these three cherry types were compared. Fruit flesh was evaluated for procyanidin concentration, subunit composition and degree of polymerization, for anthocyanin composition and for total antioxidant capacity, total phenolic content and total flavonoid content.

• Variations in tissue development and spatial composition have a major impact on the nutritional and organoleptic qualities of ripe fleshy fruit, including melon (Cucumis melo). To gain a deeper insight into the mechanisms involved in these changes, we identified key metabolites for rational food quality design. • The metabolome, volatiles and mineral elements were profiled employing an unprecedented range of complementary analytical technologies.

In just 10 years, plantmetabolomics has been transformed from a purely theoretical concept into a highly valued and widely exploited technology. Moving on from the many and wide-ranging hopes, enthused upon in a multitude of early reviews, metabolomics for plant research has already proved itself despite the technology still experiencing certain limitations.

Tomato has quickly become a favoured species for metabolomics research. Tomato fills a niche that cannot be occupied by Arabidopsis, particularly regarding studies on fleshy fruit. Variations in genotype and phenotype have been broadly exploited using metabolomics approaches in order to gain a better understanding of fundamental aspects of plant physiology, fruit growth and fruit development. The commercial importance of tomato as one of the world's most important and widely grownand consumed vegetables is a significant driving force behind this fruit research.

Food quality, security and safety have become topics of considerable recent interest. With a rapidly growing world population, entailing an everexpanding requirement for food, and with the global consumer making higher and better-informed demands on our crop and food producers, much attention is being given to how we can meet all these growing needs.

The "metabolome" comprises the entire complement of small molecules in a plant or any other organism. It represents the ultimate phenotype of cells, deduced from the perturbation of gene expression and the modulation of protein function, as well as environmental cues. Extensive advances over the past decade, regarding the high-throughput (HTP) nature of "omics" research, have given birth to the expectation that a type of "systems level" overview may soon be possible.