Historically, species of the family Lamiaceae have enjoyed a rich tradition of use for flavouring, food preservation, and medicinal purposes, due to both their curative and their preventive ...properties. It is well known that each species has a special, complex mixture of bioactive compounds in which each component contributes to its overall bioactivity. Their value lays in the production of a wide range of secondary metabolites with potent antibacterial, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, antiviral, and anticancer activities. This review focuses on the Lamiaceae species and their secondary metabolites encompassing a wide array of beneficial functions and their applicability as sources of functional foods. It could help in addressing specific consumer needs as healthy diet is a part of the lifestyle that maintains or improves overall health.
Basil is one of the most widespread aromatic and medicinal plants, which is often grown in drought- and salinity-prone regions. Often co-occurrence of drought and salinity stresses in agroecosystems ...and similarities of symptoms which they cause on plants complicates the differentiation among them. Development of automated phenotyping techniques with integrative and simultaneous quantification of multiple morphological and physiological traits enables early detection and quantification of different stresses on a whole plant basis. In this study, we have used different phenotyping techniques including chlorophyll fluorescence imaging, multispectral imaging, and 3D multispectral scanning, aiming to quantify changes in basil phenotypic traits under early and prolonged drought and salinity stress and to determine traits which could differentiate among drought and salinity stressed basil plants.
"Genovese" was grown in a growth chamber under well-watered control 45-50% volumetric water content (VWC), moderate salinity stress (100 mM NaCl), severe salinity stress (200 mM NaCl), moderate drought stress (25-30% VWC), and severe drought stress (15-20% VWC). Phenotypic traits were measured for 3 weeks in 7-day intervals. Automated phenotyping techniques were able to detect basil responses to early and prolonged salinity and drought stress. In addition, several phenotypic traits were able to differentiate among salinity and drought. At early stages, low anthocyanin index (ARI), chlorophyll index (CHI), and hue (HUE
), and higher reflectance in red (R
), reflectance in green (R
), and leaf inclination (LINC) indicated drought stress. At later stress stages, maximum fluorescence (F
), HUE
, normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), and LINC contribute the most to the differentiation among drought and non-stressed as well as among drought and salinity stressed plants. ARI and electron transport rate (ETR) were best for differentiation of salinity stressed plants from non-stressed plants both at early and prolonged stress.
Micronutrient malnutrition is one of the main public health problems in many parts of the world. This problem raises the attention of all valuable sources of micronutrients for the human diet, such ...as common bean (
L.). In this research, a panel of 174 accessions representing Croatian common bean landraces was phenotyped for seed content of eight nutrients (N, P, K, Ca, Mg, Fe, Zn, and Mn), and genotyped using 6,311 high-quality DArTseq-derived SNP markers. A genome-wide association study (GWAS) was then performed to identify new genetic sources for improving seed mineral content. Twenty-two quantitative trait nucleotides (QTN) associated with seed nitrogen content were discovered on chromosomes Pv01, Pv02, Pv03, Pv05, Pv07, Pv08, and Pv10. Five QTNs were associated with seed phosphorus content, four on chromosome Pv07, and one on Pv08. A single significant QTN was found for seed calcium content on chromosome Pv09 and for seed magnesium content on Pv08. Finally, two QTNs associated with seed zinc content were identified on Pv06 while no QTNs were found to be associated with seed potassium, iron, or manganese content. Our results demonstrate the utility of GWAS for understanding the genetic architecture of seed nutritional traits in common bean and have utility for future enrichment of seed with macro- and micronutrients through genomics-assisted breeding.
Drought tolerance in Miscanthus sinensis is a desirable trait because of its potential use to develop new varieties, namely intra‐specific hybrids, adapted to drought‐prone marginal lands. In this ...study, drought tolerance was evaluated on 8 M. sinensis intra‐specific hybrids (GRC1–GRC8). Plants were grown in the growth chamber (14/10 h, 25/20°C, 70% relative air humidity and 300 μmol m−2 s−1 irradiance). Drought was induced by withholding irrigation for 21 days (stress phase) and after re‐watering (recovery phase) for 7 days. Nondestructive multispectral 3D images for plant morphology, color, and chlorophyll fluorescence imaging were used to quantify drought‐induced changes on a weekly basis for the entire duration of the experiment. Total leaf area (TLA) and digital biomass (DB) responded most rapidly to water deficits (7–14 days), followed by leaf senescence (14–21 days), and finally, a drop in the maximum efficiency of PSII (Fv/Fm; 21 days). Traits measured on the last day of the drought treatment were used to calculate the phenotypic plasticity. Significant differences in drought susceptibility and phenotypic plasticity were found among the studied hybrids. Drought treatment (21 days) reduced DB and TLA on average by 50%, normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) by 20% and Fv/Fm from 0.79 (in control) to 0.69 in the less drought‐susceptible hybrids (GRC4 and GRC5), whereas in drought‐sensitive hybrids (GRC2 and GRC3), 21 days of drought reduced DB and TLA on average by 80%, NDVI by 45% and Fv/Fm dropped from 0.79 (in control) to 0.35. The more drought‐resilient hybrids showed lower phenotypic plasticity than their more sensitive counterparts, a stay‐green strategy enabled through lower biomass accumulation and by extension, reduced water usage. Multispectral imaging and image analysis enabled fast and nondestructive quantification of plant morphological and physiological responses under drought conditions and could be used as an effective screening tool for drought susceptibility.
Miscanthus (M. sacchariflorus × M. sinensis) is relatively sensitive to drought, while it may be possible to increase drought tolerance through breeding with drought‐tolerant parental genotypes. Due to the wide range of plant traits affected by drought, a more integrative approach that will use multiple sensors and gain information about multiple phenotypic traits is needed. Multispectral imaging and image analysis enabled fast and nondestructive quantification of plant morphological and physiological responses under drought conditions and could be used as an effective screening tool for drought susceptibility.
GC/MS was used to identify compounds of essential oils from seven
Ocimum taxa (
O.
americanum L.,
O. basilicum L.,
O. campechianum Mill.,
O. x
citriodorum Vis.,
O. kilimandscharicum Baker ex Gürke ...and three botanical varieties and cultivars of
Ocimum basilicum L.: ‘Genovese’, var.
difforme and var.
purpurascens). Preliminary screening of their antibacterial activity was done against a number of common pathogens (
Enterococcus faecalis,
Enterococus faecium,
Escherichia coli 0157:H7,
Listeria monocytogenes,
Listeria ivanovii,
Proteus vulgaris,
Staphylococcus aureus,
Staphylococcus epidermis) using the filter paper disc agar diffusion technique, while further analyses were done by modification of the disc diffusion method. A broad variation in the antibacterial properties of investigated essential oils was observed.
E. coli 0157:H7 was inhibited by
O. basilicum ‘Genovese’ essential oil, while
Ocimum americanum and
Ocimum x
citriodorum essential oils were the most effective against
Enterococcus faecalis,
Enterococcus faecium,
P. vulgaris,
S. aureus and
S. epidermis.
The development of automated, image-based, high-throughput plant phenotyping enabled the simultaneous measurement of many plant traits. Big and complex phenotypic datasets require advanced ...statistical methods which enable the extraction of the most valuable traits when combined with other measurements, interpretation, and understanding of their (eco)physiological background. Nutrient deficiency in plants causes specific symptoms that can be easily detected by multispectral imaging, 3D scanning, and chlorophyll fluorescence measurements. Screening of numerous image-based phenotypic traits of common bean plants grown in nutrient-deficient solutions was conducted to optimize phenotyping and select the most valuable phenotypic traits related to the specific nutrient deficit. Discriminant analysis was used to compare the efficiency of groups of traits obtained by high-throughput phenotyping techniques (chlorophyll fluorescence, multispectral traits, and morphological traits) in discrimination between nutrients nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), potassium (K), magnesium (Mg), and iron (Fe) at early and prolonged deficiency. Furthermore, a recursive partitioning analysis was used to select variables within each group of traits that show the highest accuracy for assigning plants to the respective nutrient deficit treatment. Using the entire set of measured traits, the highest classification success by discriminant function was achieved using multispectral traits. In the subsequent measurements, chlorophyll fluorescence and multispectral traits achieved comparably high classification success. Recursive partitioning analysis was able to intrinsically identify variables within each group of traits and their threshold values that best separate the observations from different nutrient deficiency groups. Again, the highest success in assigning plants into their respective groups was achieved based on selected multispectral traits. Selected chlorophyll fluorescence traits also showed high accuracy for assigning plants into control, Fe, Mg, and P deficit but could not correctly assign K and N deficit plants. This study has shown the usefulness of combining high-throughput phenotyping techniques with advanced data analysis to determine and differentiate nutrient deficiency stress.
Display omitted
•77 volatiles were discovered in analyzed accessions of O. basilicum.•PCA and Cluster analysis were performed based on seven major compounds.•Five chemotypes were identified ...characterized by one or two dominant constituents.
Ocimum basilicum L. exhibits a great variety of cultivars grown for various purposes. The aim of this research was to analyse the chemical composition of 85 O. basilicum accessions cultivated throughout the world using gas chromatography (GC/FID and GC/MS). All accessions were previously categorized into six morphotypes based on 24 morphological traits: True basil, Small-leaf, Lettuce-leaf, Purple basil A, Purple basil B and Purple basil C morphotype. A total of 77 volatiles were observed, with seven of them being in concentrations higher than 10% in at least one accession (1,8-cineole, linalool, linalool acetate, methyl chavicol, eugenol, trans-methyl cinnamate, trans-α-bergamotene). Based on the essential oil composition of 85 O. basilicum accessions, we propose the intraspecific characterization of O. basilicum into five chemotypes: (A) High-linalool, (B) Linalool/trans-α-bergamotene, (C) Linalool/methyl chavicol, (D) Linalool/trans-methyl cinnamate and (E) High-methyl chavicol chemotype. Groups based on morphological and biochemical traits do not necessarily coincide with one another. Due to great morphological and biochemical diversity, both morphological and chemical characterizations are crucial for the effective management of germplasm collections to facilitate the use of the accessions in future breeding programs.
The lack of plant nutrients is a major problem for agriculture. Because of their essential role in the most important metabolic processes of plants, their deficiency depresses photosynthesis and ...disrupts the efficient operation of the photosynthetic apparatus. In this study, we investigated the gas exchange of common beans bean under the N, P, K, Mg, and Fe deficiency. The experiment was set up as a hydroponic, fully aerated, floating system in 6 hydroponic tubs. Each hydroponic tub contained 10 plants and was filled with a modified Hoagland nutrient solution. One group of plants was grown in a complete nutrient solution (control), while the other treatments lacked one of the following nutrients: N, P, K, Mg and Fe. During the experiment, gas exchange parameters: net photosynthetic rate (A), transpiration rate (E), stomatal conductance (gs) and intercellular CO2 concentration (Ci) were measured. At the end of the experiment, the nutrient content of the plant tissue was determined. Nutrient deficiency significantly affected all measured photosynthetic parameters and visual symptoms indicated that a lack of different nutrients affected the photosynthetic machinery at different points. Potassium deficiency lower stomatal conductance and increased mesophyll resistance to CO2 diffusion and/or RubisCO activity. Nitrogen and Mg deficiency affected chlorophyll synthesis and accelerated leaf senescence. Phosphorus deficiency caused less damage to gas exchange parameters probably due to protective mechanisms of reduced leaf area. Seed Fe content was surplus to sustain photosynthetic machinery during the early developmental phase.
Dalmatian pyrethrum (Tanacetum cinerariifolium Trevir./Sch./Bip.) is an outcrossing, perennial insecticidal plant, restricted to the eastern Adriatic coast (Mediterranean). Amplified fragment-length ...polymorphisms (AFLP) were used to investigate the genetic diversity and structure within and among 20 natural plant populations. The highest level of gene diversity, the number of private alleles and the frequency down-weighted marker values (DW) were found in northern Adriatic populations and gradually decreased towards the southern boundary of the species range. Genetic impoverishment of these southern populations is most likely the result of human-related activities. An analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) indicated that most of the genetic diversity was attributed to differences among individuals within populations (85.78%), which are expected due to the outcrossing nature of the species. A Bayesian analysis of the population structure identified two dominant genetic clusters. A spatial analysis of the genetic diversity indicated that 5.6% of the genetic differentiation resulted from isolation by distance (IBD), while 12.3% of the genetic differentiation among populations followed the pattern of isolation by environmental distance (IBED). Knowledge of the genetic diversity patterns of the natural populations and the mechanism behind these patterns is required for the exploitation and possible conservation management of this endemic and economically important species.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK