TOMATO CAROTENOID PROTECTION VIA TARGETING THE GUT-LIVER AXIS

The majorgoal of this projectis to investigate the protective effects of whole tomato powder and key tomato-based carotenoids (lycopene and phytoene) against high refined carbohydrate diet (HRCD)-induced gut dysbiosis, metabolic disorders, and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) development in an age- and carotenoid metabolism-related manner.We have two supportive objectives:Objective 1:To determine if age and carotenoid cleavage enzymes (BCO1/BCO2) differentially modulate HRCD-induced NAFLD development through altering the sirtuin 1 signaling, gut microbiome, gut-liver axis, and systemic metabolomic profiles.Objective2:To investigate the protective effects of dietary tomato powder, purified lycopene, and purified phytoene against HRCD-induced NAFLD through modulating the sirtuin 1 sinaling, gut microbiome, gut-liver axis and systemic metabolomic profiles, and in aging/BCO1/BCO2 dependant or independant manner.