Although its role is not completely understood, Or is known to be involved in proplastid differentiation and other non-coloured plastids into
chromoplasts for carotenoid accumulation.
The final phase of differentiation is often characterized by the presence of
chromoplasts in various tissues, including senescent leaves, fruit pulp, and petals (Ljubesic et al.
plastids: Any of several pigmented cytoplasmic organelles including chloroplasts,
chromoplasts, and leucoplasts.
Chromoplasts are pigment organelles, as the name implies, but are specialized to synthesize and store carotenoid pigments (red, orange, and yellow) instead of chlorophyll.
Photosynthesizing pigments in leaves are found in the chloroplasts, while the other pigments that fascinated Wang-Wei and are responsible for the bright colors in stems, trunks, flowers, and fruits are found in the
chromoplasts.
Nevertheless, studies have shown that the thermal processing of tomatoes and its products--rich sources of lycopene--improve bioavailability, so that it breaks the cell wall and allows the extraction of lycopene from the
chromoplasts (WILLCOX et al.
6] and Toor and Savage [7], lycopene is also responsible for the reddening of the tomato, due to the differentiation of the chloroplasts and
chromoplasts, so this carotenoids is very important with regard to the final nutritional and marketable quality of this plant product [8].
