Profiling of melatonin in the model tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) cultivar Micro-Tom.

Melatonin exists in a considerable variety of plant species. However, the physiological roles of melatonin in plants are not well understood. In this study, the distribution and accumulation of melatonin during leaf and fruit development were analyzed in Micro-Tom, a model cultivar of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.). Melatonin was extracted using an acetone-methanol method and measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Melatonin was detected in leaves, stems, roots, flowers, fruits, seedlings and seeds in the range of 1.5-66.6 ng/g fresh weight, with seeds containing the highest concentration of melatonin. In fruits and leaves, melatonin concentrations varied depending on the developmental stage, suggesting that melatonin controls some of the processes involved in plant maturation.