Experts Boost Anthocyanin Content of Radish Sprouts

Nanjing Agricultural University scientists investigated the impact of hemin treatment on anthocyanin production in radish sprouts. Their findings are reported in BMC Plant Biology.

Anthocyanins are plant pigments with enormous health benefits to humans. Thus, researchers continuously search for ways to improve the anthocyanin contents of plant foods. In a previous study, the researchers found that nitric oxide plays a positive role in the accumulation of anthocyanin in radish sprouts.

The researchers applied hemin, an inducer of heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1), to increase nitric oxide production. This resulted to significant expression of several structures and regulatory genes involved in anthocyanin production. Thus, the amount of anthocyanin in radish hypocotyls increased significantly. Furthermore, hemin treatment raised nitric oxide contents in radish sprouts, probably through enhancing nitrate reductase activity and Nitric Oxide-Associated 1 (NOA1) expression.

Read the research article in BMC Plant Biology.