The tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum) is a vegetable crop of the solanaceae family that originated in the Andean region of South America. It increased in popularity and was rapidly expanded into large-scale cultivation during the last half-century. During this period, considerable progress was made in tomato breeding and use, such as advances in increased yields, improved quality, better handling and storage durability, improved pest resistance, expanded processing techniques, and the development of a plethora of new tomato-based products. Tomato production has been transformed into a large agricultural industry, and tomato is one of the most important commercially produced vegetables in the world.
Tomato quality is a function of several factors including the choice of cultivar, cultural practices, harvest time and method, storage, and handling procedures. The tomato processing industry has made tremendous advances, developing many forms of tomato-based foods, such as sauces, catsup (ketchup), puree, pastes, soups, juices and juice blends, and canned tomatoes either whole or in diced, sliced, quartered or stewed form. Tomatoes and tomato products are rich sources of vitamin C and A, lycopene, beta-carotene, lutein, lectin, and a variety of phenolic compounds such as flavonoids and phenolic acids. They are rich in folates, potassium, fiber, and protein, but low in fat and calories, as well as being cholesterol-free.
Part 1: Characterization and Composition of Tomato Plant and Fruit; Tomato: Origin, Cultivation Techniques and Germplasm Resources: Derly Jose Henriques da Silva, Flavia Barbosa Abreu, Fabiano Ricardo Brunele Caliman, Adilson Castro Antonio and V.B. Patel; Cultivar and Agricultural Management on Lycopene and Vitamin C Contents in Tomato Fruits: Tiequan Zhang, John Shi, Yutao Wang and Sophia Jun Xue; Field Trials of Genetically Modified Tomato: Fruit Quality and Productivity: G.L. Rotino, T. Pandolfini, R. Lo Scalzo, E. Sabatini, M. Fibiani and A. Spena; Post-harvest Ripening of Tomato: Maria Serrano, Pedro Javier Zapata, Fabian Guillen, Domingo Martinez-Romero, Salvador Castillo and Daniel Valero; Tomato and Flavour: Christian Salles; Antioxidant Activity in Tomato: A Function of Genotype: C. Kaur and H.C. Kapoor; Carotenoids in Tomato Plants: B. Stephen Inbaraj and B.H. Chen; Tomato Lectin: Willy J. Peumans and Els J.M. Van Damme; Presence of Zingiberene and Curcumene in Wild Tomato Leaves: George F. Antonious; The Role of Intracellular and Secreted Purple Acid Phosphatases in Tomato Phosphate Nutrition: Gale G. Bozzo and William C. Plaxton. Nutritional Characterization of Tomato Juices: Concepcion Sanchez-Moreno, Begona de Ancos, Lucia Plaza, Pedro Elez-Martinez and M. Pilar Cano; Acrylamide in Tomato Products: Fernando Tateo and Monica Bononi; Part 2: Cellular and Metabolic Effects of Tomato and Related Products or Components; Tomato Leaf Crude Extracts for Insects and Spider Mite Control: George F. Antonious and John C. Snyder; Bioactive Polysaccharides from Tomato: Giuseppina Tommonaro, Alfonso de Giulio, Giuseppe Strazzullo, Salvatore de Rosa, Barbara Nicolaus and Annarita Poli; Ingestion of Tomato Products and Lycopene Isomers in Plasma: Volker Bohm and Kati Frohlich; Comparative Studies of Antioxidant Compounds in Different Tomato Cultivars: Giuseppina Tommonaro, Barbara Nicolaus, Rocco de Prisco, Alfonso de Giulio, Giuseppe Strazzullo and Annarita Poli; Antioxidant Activity of Fresh-cut Tomatoes: Effects of Minimal Processing and Maturity Stage at Harvest: Milza Moreira Lana; Tomato and Anticancer Properties of Saliva: Masahiro Toda and Kanehisa Morimoto; DNA Strand Breaks and Tomatoes: Karlis Briviba; Tomato Carotenoids and the IGF System in Cancer: Josephy Levy, Shlomo Walfisch, Yossi Walfisch, Amit Nahum, Keren Hirsch, Michael Danilenko and Yoav Sharoni; Consumption of Tomato Paste and Benign Prostate Hyperplasia: Magda Edinger de Souza, Walter Jose Koff and Tania Weber Furlanetto; Tomatoes and Components as Modulators of Experimental Prostate Carcinogenesis: Elizabeth Miller Grainger, Kirstie Canene-Adams, John W. Erdman, Jr. and Steven K. Clinton; Tomato Juice, Prostate Cancer and Adenosine Deaminase Enzyme: Aslhan Avci and Ilker Durak; Effect of Tomato Juice on Prevention and Management of Lung Diseases: Cigarette Smoke-induced Emphysema in the Senescence-accelerated Mouse and Bronchial Asthma in Human: Kuniaki Seyama, Naoaki Tamura, Takahiro Inakuma and Koichi Aizawa; Part 3: Analysis and Methods; Proteomics of Tomato Seed and Pollen: V.K. Sawhney and I.S. Sheoran; Gene Transfer in Tomato and Detection of Transgenic Tomato Products: Theodoros H. Varzakas, Dimitris Argyropoulos and Joannis S. Arvanitoyannis; Assaying Vitamins and Micronutrients in Tomato: A.I. Olives, M.A. Martin, B. del Castillo and M.E. Torija; Methods for PCR and Gene Expression Studies in Tomato Plants: Dimitris Argyropoulos, Theodoros H. Varzakas and Ioannis S. Arvanitoyannis; DNA Analysis of Tomato Seeds in Forensic Evidence: Henry C. Lee and Cheng-Lung Lee.