Chemical and biofunctional analysis for chemical breeding of vegetables

最近的研究表明，这些蔬菜含有各种生物活性(生物功能)成分，这些成分具有抗氧化、促癌、致癌和抗糖尿病并发症的活性。然而，大多数蔬菜的培育都是为了提高生产率。因此，到目前为止培育的不同品种的蔬菜中生物功能成分的含量和组成可能不同。本研究的目的是寻找生菜和菠菜的生物功能成分，并比较不同品种生菜和菠菜的含量，这两种蔬菜是一年四季最受欢迎的蔬菜。生菜中的主要成分是绿原酸及其衍生物(菊苣酸、3，5-二咖啡酰奎宁酸和咖啡酸)，它们具有抗氧化、抗肿瘤和抗糖尿病并发症的生物活性。它们的组成和含量在不同品种之间差异很大，并且能够受到栽培条件的调节。与其他供试品种相比，一个品种的抗癌促癌活性要低得多。部分品种的抗氧化活性与绿原酸衍生物含量呈正相关，而部分品种的抗氧化活性与叶绿素含量呈正相关，说明不同品种的抗氧化活性存在差异。菠菜中的抗癌成分为葡萄糖脑苷或半乳脑苷，TLC分析发现其含量因品种不同而不同。这些结果表明，通过化学育种可以选育出对人类健康更好的品种。

Recent research indicates that the vegetables contain various types of biologically active (biofunctional) components that have activity against oxidation, tumor promotion, carcinogenesis and diabetic complication. However, most of the vegetables have been bred with a view to improving the productivity. There is, therefore, a possibility that the contents and the composition of biofunctional components in the vegetables vary among the cultivars bred so far. The objective of this research is to find the biofunctional components and to compare the comparison of their contents among the various cultivars of lettuce and spinach, which are the most popular vegetables all the year around. The main components in lettuce were found to be chlorogenic acid and its derivatives (chicoric acid, 3,5-dicaffeoylquinic acid and caffeic acid), which have the biological activity against oxidation, tumor promotion and diabetic complication. Their composition and the contents vary significantly among the cultivars, and they were able to be regulated by the culture conditions. The anti-cancer promoting activity was detected to be much lower in one cultivar compared with the other cultivars tested. The anti-oxidation activity was correlated with the contents of chlorogenic acid derivatives in some cultivars but in the others with the contents of chlorophylls, indicating that the anti-oxidation activity was found to vary among the cultivars. In spinach, the component against cancer promotion was glucocerebroside or galactocerebroside, and the content was found to vary among the cultivars by TLC analysis. These results indicate that cultivars better for the human health can be bred by the chemical breeding.