A multifactorial approach in characterizing geographical origin of Sicilian cherry tomatoes using 1H-NMR profiling

- Geographical variations of cherry tomatoes lipophilic profiles are multifactorial.
- 1H NMR profiling revealed the influence of genetic and environmental factors.
- Carotenoids were more discriminating for both cultivars in summer and winter.
- Phospholipids and polyunsaturated fatty acids discriminated cv Naomi samples in summer season.

In this study, metabolomic analysis of chloroform extracts was performed to characterize cherry tomatoes (cv Naomi and Shiren) grown in different Sicilian areas, using 1H NMR spectroscopy coupled with multivariate statistical analysis. Principal components analysis showed clear discrimination between extracts of cherry tomatoes cultivated in two different seasons (winter and summer) and grown in three areas of Sicily (Gela, Licata, Pachino). In particular, carotenoids and phospholipids mainly were found to be more discriminating metabolites for both cultivars in summer and winter. In the present study, the simple separation only based on production area was found to be inadequate to distinguish the three groups of tomatoes. A clear separation among the different samples groups was obtained using a multifactorial approach not only based on the geographical origin classification, but considering also cultivar, year and seasonality.

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