Golden biomass: unlocking the potential of neglected potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) side-streams as sources of bioactive compounds
5 affiliations
- 1Institute of Bio- and Geosciences (IBG-4: Bioinformatics), CEPLAS, Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH
- 2Bioeconomy Science Center (BioSC), Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH
- 3Institute of Bio- and Geosciences (IBG-2: Plant Sciences), Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH
- 4Institute of Bio- and Geosciences (IBG-3: Agrosphere), Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH
- 5Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, CEPLAS, Institute for Biological Data Science, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf
Abstract
Background: Potato flowers and berries are largely unused agricultural side-streams that may provide bioactive compounds for pharmaceutical and plant protection applications in a circular bioeconomy. This study evaluated their potential as sources of secondary metabolites and assessed whether premature harvesting affects final tuber yield.
Methods: Field trials with two potato cultivars were combined with targeted HPLC-MS/MS analysis, untargeted metabolomics, and RNA-Seq analysis of flowers and developing berries.
Results: Berries produced substantially more biomass than flowers, whereas flowers generally contained higher concentrations of total glycoalkaloids (calculated as the sum of a-solanine and a-chaconine). This reached 393.95 mg/100 g FW in ‘Quarta’ flowers compared to 70.92 mg/100 g FW in berries, with the concentration of a-chaconine up to 3.33-fold higher than that of a-solanine. Untargeted metabolomics identified glycoalkaloids, phenolic compounds, and other secondary metabolites, with peak intensities of rutin and some others declining from ~1Å~10 ⁹ to ~1Å~10 ⁵ during berry development. Transcriptomic analysis showed that tissue and developmental stage had a substantially greater influence on gene expression patterns than cultivar. Genes associated with phenylpropanoid, terpenoid and steroid-related pathways were differentially expressed, with overall stronger upregulation in flowers than in small and big berries. Premature flower harvest did not reduce tuber yield, whereas berry harvest reduced yield for one cultivar in one field experiment.
Conclusion: Overall, flowers and berries harvested as side streams in the potato production can be a good source for glycoalkaloids and possibly further metabolites of use for pharmaceutical and plant protection applications. Flowers appear particularly suitable for recovering high-concentration bioactive compounds, whereas berries offer advantages in biomass availability, harvesting, and storage.
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BibTeX
@article{silva2026golden,
title = {{Golden biomass: unlocking the potential of neglected potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) side-streams as sources of bioactive compounds}},
author = {Marília Bueno da Silva and Björn Thiele and Björn Usadel and Franziska Genzel and Anika Wiese-Klinkenberg},
journal = {Frontiers in Plant Science},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.3389/fpls.2026.1957940},
url = {https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpls.2026.1957940/full},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Golden biomass: unlocking the potential of neglected potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) side-streams as sources of bioactive compounds
AU - Marília Bueno da Silva
AU - Björn Thiele
AU - Björn Usadel
AU - Franziska Genzel
AU - Anika Wiese-Klinkenberg
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/05
JO - Frontiers in Plant Science
DO - 10.3389/fpls.2026.1957940
UR - https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpls.2026.1957940/full
AB - Background: Potato flowers and berries are largely unused agricultural side-streams that may provide bioactive compounds for pharmaceutical and plant protection applications in a circular bioeconomy. This study evaluated their potential as sources of secondary metabolites and assessed whether premature harvesting affects final tuber yield. Methods: Field trials with two potato cultivars were combined with targeted HPLC-MS/MS analysis, untargeted metabolomics, and RNA-Seq analysis of flowers and developing berries. Results: Berries produced substantially more biomass than flowers, whereas flowers generally contained higher concentrations of total glycoalkaloids (calculated as the sum of a-solanine and a-chaconine). This reached 393.95 mg/100 g FW in ‘Quarta’ flowers compared to 70.92 mg/100 g FW in berries, with the concentration of a-chaconine up to 3.33-fold higher than that of a-solanine. Untargeted metabolomics identified glycoalkaloids, phenolic compounds, and other secondary metabolites, with peak intensities of rutin and some others declining from ~1Å~10 ⁹ to ~1Å~10 ⁵ during berry development. Transcriptomic analysis showed that tissue and developmental stage had a substantially greater influence on gene expression patterns than cultivar. Genes associated with phenylpropanoid, terpenoid and steroid-related pathways were differentially expressed, with overall stronger upregulation in flowers than in small and big berries. Premature flower harvest did not reduce tuber yield, whereas berry harvest reduced yield for one cultivar in one field experiment. Conclusion: Overall, flowers and berries harvested as side streams in the potato production can be a good source for glycoalkaloids and possibly further metabolites of use for pharmaceutical and plant protection applications. Flowers appear particularly suitable for recovering high-concentration bioactive compounds, whereas berries offer advantages in biomass availability, harvesting, and storage.
SN - 1664-462X
ER -