The genes that control the manufacture of antioxidant flavonoids are found in liverworts and mosses and are often up-regulated as a result of severe stress. This is because liverworts and mosses are exposed to high levels of stress. This lends credence to the idea that the metabolism of antioxidant flavonoids is a strong characteristic of terrestrial plants.
Flavonoids, which are antioxidants, may be extracted from transgenic tomato plants.
What are flavonoids?
Flavonoids are phenolic chemicals that may be obtained from a broad variety of vascular plants. There are over 8000 different flavonoids that have been identified so far. In plants, they provide the functions of antioxidants, antimicrobials, photoreceptors, visual attractants, feeding repellants, and screen for light.
Is antioxidant flavonoid metabolism a robust trait of terrestrial plants?
This lends credence to the idea that the metabolism of antioxidant flavonoids is a strong characteristic of terrestrial plants. Following the depletion of ascorbate peroxidase activity, it has been observed that vacuolar dihydroxy B-ring flavonoids can serve as co-substrates for vacuolar peroxidases, therefore reducing the amount of hydrogen peroxide that can escape from the chloroplast.
What is the function of flavonoids in the chloroplast?
The presence of flavonoids with the ″antioxidant″ property in chloroplasts hints at their potential function as scavengers of singlet oxygen and as stabilizers of the chloroplast outer envelope membrane.There is evidence that dihydroxy B-ring substituted flavonoids, which are found in the nucleus of mesophyll cells, have the ability to limit ROS formation by forming complexes with iron and copper ions.