Improvement and breeding
Najmeh Hadi; Razieh Azimi; Mahdi Yahyazadeh; Maryam Mackizadeh; S. Fekri Qomi; Simin Mohit
Abstract
Background and objectives: Chamomile (Matricaria chamomilla L.) is a valuable medicinal plant with many applications in the food, pharmaceutical, and cosmetic health industries. Chamomile's biological properties are attributed to its essential oil (EO) compounds, especially chamazulene and a-bisabolol ...
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Background and objectives: Chamomile (Matricaria chamomilla L.) is a valuable medicinal plant with many applications in the food, pharmaceutical, and cosmetic health industries. Chamomile's biological properties are attributed to its essential oil (EO) compounds, especially chamazulene and a-bisabolol oxide A, and flavonoids, esp. apigenin and luteolin. Evaluation of wild plant populations belonging to different geographical regions in situ (study on wild samples) and ex-situ (study on wild samples under agricultural conditions) is a crucial step in plant breeding and selection of promising genotypes. On the other hand, cultivation and domestication of wild plants under agricultural conditions improve plant yield and prevent unnecessary harvesting and extinction of the plant. In the present study, the quantitative and qualitative EO diversity of some wild chamomile was investigated.Methodology: Flowers and seeds of 15 wild chamomile populations were collected from Iran's natural habitats, including 12 populations from Khuzistan province (Kh1-12), 2 populations from Fars province (F1-2), and 1 population from Bushehr province (F3) in 2021 (February-May). Flowers were used for essential oil extraction, and seeds were planted in a randomized complete block design (treatment = genotype) with three replications. The research farm located at Alborz Research Station, affiliated with the Research Institute of Forests and Rangelands, Alborz province, was considered a cultivation site without adding fertilizer to the soil. The seeds were sown directly in the field with a 15 cm distance between the planting lines and 15 cm between the plants on the lines (April 2021). Drip irrigation was used, and weeding was done mechanically. Flowers with less than 5 cm of peduncles were harvested manually at the 70% full bloom stage. The shade-dried flower EOs were extracted by water distillation (Clevenger) for 3 hours, and their quantitative and qualitative analysis was done using GC and GC/MS.Results: The results showed that sesquiterpene hydrocarbons, oxygenated sesquiterpenes, and diacetylenes made the highest EO compounds percentage in both wild and cultivated samples. Chamazulene (from sesquiterpene hydrocarbons) and a-bisabolol oxide A (from oxygenated sesquiterpenes), as two important chamomile EO compounds, showed an increase from wild to cultivated samples. Among the wild samples, the highest chamazulene (5.3%) and a-bisabolol oxide A (21.5%) contents were assigned to the populations Kh8 and Kh4, respectively. In the cultivated samples, the highest amount of these compounds (11.1 and 32.3%, respectively) was obtained in the populations Kh7 and F2, respectively. In general, the main EO compounds (%) in the wild and cultivated populations included α-bisabolone oxide A (wild: 31.3 (F1) to 64.5 (Kh3) and cultivated: 29.8 (F2) to 56 (Kh3)), α-bisabolol oxide A (wild: 5.8 (Kh5) to 21.5 (Kh4) and cultivated: 10.3 (Kh3) to 32.3 (F2)), E-β-farnesene (wild: 6.1 (Kh3) to 23.3 (Kh8) and cultivated: 6.9 (Kh1) to 15.6 (F3)), Z-spiroether (wild: 0 (F1) to 16.1 (Kh1) and cultivated: 9.1 (Kh7) to 15.1 (Kh13)), and chamazulene (wild: 1.6 (F1) to 5.3 (Kh8) and cultivated: 4.7 (Kh6) to 11.1 (Kh7)). Also, the EO% was obtained more in the cultivated samples (0.9 (Kh5) to 1.4% (Kh13)) than in the wild ones (0.1 (Kh6) to 0.5% (Kh10).Conclusion: The results of this research showed that by cultivating wild populations under agricultural conditions and water and crop management, it is possible to have essential oil in the desired quantity and quality compared to wild ones. It should be noted that the results of repeating population cultivation under the same conditions in the following years will be reported in proportion to the data output.
Phytochemistry (extraction, identification and measurement of active components)
F. Askari; F. Sefidkon; M.A. Soltanipour; M. Mirza; S. Fekri Qomi
Abstract
The genus Pycnocyla belongs to the Apiaceae family and has eight perennial species in Iran. In this study, the essential oil content and chemical compounds of P. nodiflora Decne ex. Boiss. and P. flabellifolia Boiss. were investigated. The aerial parts of plants at seeding stage were collected from two ...
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The genus Pycnocyla belongs to the Apiaceae family and has eight perennial species in Iran. In this study, the essential oil content and chemical compounds of P. nodiflora Decne ex. Boiss. and P. flabellifolia Boiss. were investigated. The aerial parts of plants at seeding stage were collected from two habitats in Hormozgan province through two consecutive years and Kermanshah province in one year, respectively. Stem+leaf [SL] and seed [S] were separated and shade-dried. The essential oil was extracted by Clevenger apparatus and hydrodistillation method for three hours. Percentage and chemical composition of the essential oils were determined by GC and GC/MS. The essential oil content of P. nodiflora was obtained [SL]: 0.23 and 1.21% (two years) and [S]: 0.23% in Tangzagh habitat of Hormozgan and [SL]: 0.02 and 0.06% (two years) and [S]: 0.01% in Abmah habitat. Caryophyllene oxid (7.8-28.1%) and b-eudesmol (15.5-57.2%) were recognized as the main compounds of [SL] and [S] essentials oils of both habitats in this species. In P. flabellifolia, the essential oil content of [SL] and [S] was 0.66 and 0.76%, respectively. The main compounds in [SL] essential oil of this species were cis-β-ocimene (33.8%), trans-β-ocimene (39.6%), and terpinolene (12.9%) and in [S] essential oil were trans-β-ocimene (28%), cis-β-ocimene (31%), and terpinolene (12.6%). According to previous reports on the antimicrobial properties of trans-β-ocimene and cis-β-ocimene compounds on bacteria like Staphylococcus aureus and S. epidermidis and the predominance of these compounds in the essential oil of P. flabellifolia, studies on antimicrobial properties of this species essential oil is recommended.
Biotechnology
M. Yahyazadeh; N. Hadi; Z. Shirazi; K. Jaimand; Kh. Karimzadeh Asl; M. Makizadeh Tafti; S. Fekri Qomi; M. Rahimifard; M. Gorji; F. Askari; Z. Behrad; D. Selmar
Abstract
Plants are the main sources of secondary metabolites with high medical value. The most important member of these valuable compounds are alkaloids with the different drug purposes. Concerning the limited production of some of these metabolites in the plants, these medicinal compounds can be produced naturally ...
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Plants are the main sources of secondary metabolites with high medical value. The most important member of these valuable compounds are alkaloids with the different drug purposes. Concerning the limited production of some of these metabolites in the plants, these medicinal compounds can be produced naturally and commercially with the identification and transfer of alkaloids-producing enzymes corresponding plant genes to the microorganisms as an alternative method. In this way, the characterization of the corresponding genes is the first step. Among the different enzymes involved in the alkaloid biosynthesis, the cytochrome P450 enzymes play an important role. Due to the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) localization of these enzymes and their glycoprotein characters, they cannot be expressed functionally in the standard bacterial systems. Consequently, the heterologous expression aimed to verify the enzymatic activity can favorably be performed using the eukaryotic systems, like yeast or insect cells. Herein, in this study, with employing a phylogenic comparison of cheilanthifoline synthase sequence of Eschscholzia californica Cham. and comparing the sequence with the homolog amino acid sequences of Chelidonium majus L. achieved from bioinformatics databases, six cytochrome P450 enzymes responsible for cheilanthifoline synthase in Ch. majus were identified. To prove the efficacy of these enzymes practically, their genes were cloned into the pPIC3.5 vector. Then, these recombinant vectors were transferred to the yeast cell (Pichia pastoris) and the scoulerine alkaloid was given to its media. Finally, the cheilanthifoline alkaloid microbial production by P. pastoris containing the recombinant plasmids was evaluated by LC-MS. The results of the present study indicated that among the enzymes genes cloned and introduced to the yeast host, only the Contig8931 enzyme had the cheilanthifoline synthase activity.
F. Askari; M. Mirza; M. Golipour; S. Fekri Qomi
Abstract
The genus Achillea has 19 species of herbaceous, perennial and aromatic plant in Iran. This genus of compositae family has complex characteristics. Chamazolene is a major component of essential oil of inflorescence and leaf, reported to be used in food, cosmetic, and pharmaceutical industries. A. millefolium ...
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The genus Achillea has 19 species of herbaceous, perennial and aromatic plant in Iran. This genus of compositae family has complex characteristics. Chamazolene is a major component of essential oil of inflorescence and leaf, reported to be used in food, cosmetic, and pharmaceutical industries. A. millefolium L. subsp. elbursensis is an endemic subspecies of Iran and no studies have been conducted on the cultivation of this species; therefore a preliminary study was conducted on the cultivation and its effect on secondary metabolites. For this purpose, the seeds of Achillea were collected from Dizine area in October 2016. The seeds of Achillea were cultivated in a greenhouse at the beginning of March and seedlings were transplanted to the farm in late April 2017.At flowering stage in August, aerial parts were collected in two consecutive years to obtain the essential oils. To compare the essential oil of cultivated samples with habitat samples, the aerial parts of Achillea were collected from Dizin at the flowering stage in August 2017. The plant parts including leaf and inflorescence were dried in laboratory and were crushed to particles. The essential oils were obtained by hydrodistillation and were analyzed by GC-FID and GC/MS. The color of A. millefolium essential oils was dark blue. The yields of A. millefolium essential oils of leaf and inflorescence (w/w dried weight) from habitat samples were 0.11% and 0.53%, respectively, and from cultivated samples were 0.28% and 0.50% in 2017 and 0.26% and 1.30% in 2018, respectively. Chamazulene was the major constituent of leaf (5.7%) and inflorescence (52.5%) oils in the habitat samples. The content of this compound in cultivated samples was 50.6% and 67.1% in the first year, and 59.6% and 71.3% in the second year, respectively. Another major constituents were caryophyllene alcohol, caryophyllene oxide, camphor, borneol and b-eudesmol. Chamazulene as major compound of the oil, found in all aerial parts of cultivated samples, while, it was found only in the inflorescence of wild sample.
S. Fekri Qomi; F. Sefidkon; P. Salehi Shanjani
Abstract
One of the most important methods of conservation and survival of plants in nature is the cultivation and domestication of plant species to select the best population. According to the necessity of cultivating and domesticating medicinal plants, in this research, 22 accessions of Achillea wilhelmsii ...
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One of the most important methods of conservation and survival of plants in nature is the cultivation and domestication of plant species to select the best population. According to the necessity of cultivating and domesticating medicinal plants, in this research, 22 accessions of Achillea wilhelmsii C. Koch were planted and evaluated in the Alborz Research Station, Research Institute of Forests and Rangelands. This research was performed in a randomized complete block design during 2013-2015. In order to study and compare the morphological characteristics of different accessions of this plant, the plant height, canopy cover, number of main stems, number of capitol per plant, number of florets in capitol, plant fresh and dry weight, and essential oil content were measured at 50% flowering. The extraction was carried out by water distillation method with Clevenger. Analysis of variance and mean comparison showed that the difference among the accessions was significant at 1% level. The results showed that Saqez 1 had the highest plant height, plant dry weight, number of capitol and florets and essential oil content. The correlation between the study characteristics was significant at 1% level; however, no significant correlation was found between essential oil content and other characteristics except for the number of capitol. Using the principal component analysis, the first five components explained 99% of the total variance of the variables. Canopy cover, plant height, number of stems, number of capitol, and plant fresh and dry weight, with a positive coefficient, had the most important role in explaining the first component and explained 75% of the variance of the variables. In the cluster analysis, the accessions were divided into three groups, and the Saqez1 accession was placed in a separate cluster as an indicator.
