solar day - night cycles affect unrecorded plant , but now research from Rice University in Houston and the University of California , Davis , suggests that they also move harvested produce , meaning the fashion we store it could make a divergence .
“ Vegetables and fruits do n’t die the present moment they are harvested , ” says Rice biologist Janet Braam , head researcher on the raw subject area recently published in the journal Current Biology . “ They reply to their environment for day , and we found we could apply light to sweet-talk them to make more malignant neoplastic disease - struggle antioxidants at sure time of day . ”
Braam ’s team simulated mean solar day - dark round of light and dark to ascertain the internal clocks of fruits and vegetables , including moolah , carrot , squash and blueberries . The research is a follow - up to her squad ’s honor - winning 2012 field of study of the ways that plants use their intimate circadian rhythms to guard themselves from hungry insect . The first subject area found that Arabidopsis thaliana , a flowering industrial plant widely used as a model in plant research , increases production of insect - fighting chemicals a few hours before sunrise , the time that thirsty insects begin to feed .
Braam say the idea for the current research came from a conversation with her teenaged son .
“ I was evidence him about the other work on genus Arabidopsis and insect resistance , and he say , ‘ Well , I have intercourse what time of day I ’ll feed my vegetables ! ’ ” Braam say . “ That was my ‘ aha ! ’ instant . He was think to avoid corrode the vegetables when they would be pile up the anti - insect chemical substance , but I cognize that some of those chemicals were know to be valuable metabolites for human health , so I decide to try and regain out whether veggie motorbike those compound base on circadian rhythms . ”
Arabidopsis and bread are both member of the Brassicaceae family , so Braam ’s team began their research by attempt to entrain the alfileria of cabbage in the same way they had Arabidopsis . Entrainment is akin to the physical process that external travelers go through as they recover from cat valium meanwhile ; after flying to the other side of the globe , travelers often have hassle sleeping until their interior circadian clock reset itself to the sidereal day - night round in their new locale .
“ We were able to entrain each of them , even the root vegetable , ” Goodspeed says . She and Braam both say the findings intimate that stash away fruits and vegetables in dark truck , boxful and refrigerators may bring down their ability to keep daily rhythms .
“ We can not yet say whether all - glowering or all - light conditions shorten the shelf life of fruits and vegetables , ” Braam tell . “ What we have prove is that keeping the internal clock tick is advantageous with obedience to insect electrical resistance and could also give way health benefits . ”
In the cabbage experiments , the researchers recover they could fudge bread leaves to increase the production of anti - insect metabolites at certain time of twenty-four hours . One of these , an antioxidant called glucoraphanin , or 4 - MSO , is a known anti - cancer compound that has been previously studied in broccoli and other vegetable .
Braam ’s team has already begun adopt - up research , which is digest by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation , into whether light and other stimuli , like ghost , can be used to enhance pest resistance of nutrient crops in develop land .
“ It ’s exciting to think that we may be able to boost the wellness benefits of our produce simply by shift the way we store it , ” Goodspeed says .
The research was supported by the National Science Foundation and by a 2011 Medical Innovation Award from the Rice University Institute of Bioscience and Bioengineering .
