Quantitation of free and glycosidically bound volatiles in and effect of glycosidase addition on three tomato varieties (Solanum lycopersicum L.)

The volatile fractions of three tomato cultivars (p73, Jorge, and Durinta) were studied in both free and glycosidically bound forms. The possibility of increasing the concentration of free volatile compounds by adding selected glycosidases was also tested. The free volatile fraction (FVF) of tomato juice was directly determined by headspace solid-phase microextraction (SPME). To analyze the glycosidically bound fraction (GBF), tomato juice samples were extracted with C18 cartridges and the resulting glycoside extracts were enzymatically hydrolyzed. The released aglycons were determined by headspace SPIVIE. Of these compounds, six were not previously reported to belong to the tomato GBF The concentration of 21 of 24 compounds detected in the FVF was significantly different between cultivars, the majority of them being greater in p73 than in Durinta and Jorge cultivars. In the GBF, 19 of 26 compounds that were detected were significantly different between cultivars but only the amount of trans-linalool oxide was significantly the greatest in the p73 cultivar. The addition of Candida molischiana beta-glucosidase (BGLN) and Saccharomyces cerevisiae exoglucanase (EXG1) to tomato juice samples led to increases in the concentration of 10 compounds, with variations depending on the cultivar or enzyme. These results provide scientific support for using glycosidases as a tool to improve tomato aroma.