A dwarf tomato enriched with antioxidant molecules, useful for the diet of astronauts on long-term missions and capable of resisting the radiation of the space environment.
It was created by Enea as part of the Hortspace and Bioxtreme projects financed by the Italian Space Agency, the results of which were published in the scientific journals Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences and Frontiers in Plant Sciences.
"In the roadmap of human space exploration in which the Moon will be a fundamental step towards Mars, astronauts will have to self-sustain with the resources available", explains Silvia Massa of the Enea Biotechnology Laboratory, specifying that "these plants will provide fresh and healthy food without the need of supplies from Earth and will represent the main source of molecules with high added value, such as antioxidants and biopharmaceuticals, to support life in future space outposts".
In this scenario, in fact, the confined environment, the different conditions of gravity compared to the Earth and ionizing radiation will affect not only human health, but also the productivity of plants and the quality of food, potentially generating oxidative stress and damage. to DNA.
Since 2024, Enea has studied how plants can grow adequately in an extraterrestrial environment and subsequently evaluated how radiation affects their physiology by simulating a space environment.
Compared to non-engineered plants, the tomato renamed 'San Marziano' by researchers has more compact dimensions and a higher anthocyanin content.
"Thanks to our model created in collaboration with the University of Amsterdam - says the researcher - we managed to 'rekindle' the 'dormant' biosynthesis of anthocyanins in the tomato in the species cultivated today, obtaining a biofortified one and, for the first time in world in such a way as to know the effects of ionizing radiation during the entire life cycle, as well as on the main metabolic indices".
For the research, the team used the Calliope plant in the Casaccia Research Center (Rome), capable of simulating some of the conditions present in space and useful for understanding and preventing the effects that the space environment can cause on humans and animals. technological devices.
Reproduction reserved © Copyright ANSA