Chemical and Genetic Relationship of Cynara cardunculus L. (Cardoon) in Southern Portugal

Southern Portugal has a high natural variability of Cynara cardunculus L. at a biochemical and morphological levels, conducting to the necessity of genetic diversity studies, for further plant breeding within certain desired agronomic traits [1]. Cardoon as a multipurpose crop represents a natural source of sesquiterpene lactones, namely cynaropicrin [2].

Previously, 175 individuals (generation F0) of wild cardoon from different geographical locations in the Alentejo region were identified, collected and chemically and genetically characterized [1]. To improve the biotechnological cardoon impact, based on sesquiterpene lactones chemical profile, a transcriptomic analysis is ongoing in order to select the best genotypes for cynaropicrin production. Thus, 49 cardoon plants were collected from F1 populations, along 4 months (March, April, May and June), and fresh cardoon leaves were chemical analysed, in terms of Cc leaves-lipophilic extracts cynaropicrin content (mg/g DW). Results show a great variability in terms of cynaropicrin content, concerning the genotype and collection period. For transcriptome analysis, total RNA was extracted from biological samples wigh high and low level of cynaropicrin content. RNA concentration and integrity was assessed by Agilant BioAnalyzer. cDNA libraries will be prepared, and stranded paired-end sequencing will be performed on Illumina Sequencers. The next step will be the bioinformatics analysis of the transcriptome data.

This research is a necessary step for a better conservation of the wild cardoon gene pool and for a more efficient use for future breeding programs of C.cardunculus.

This work is supported by Program Alentejo 2020, through the European Fund for Regional Development (FEDER) under the scope of MedCynaraBioTec – Selection of Cynara cardunculus genotypes for new biotechnological applications: the value chain improvement of cardoon, a well-adapted Mediterranean crop (ALT20-03-0145-FEDER-039495). Authors also acknowledge FCT for Contrato – Programa to L. Marum (CEECINST/00131/2018), PhD grant to A. Paulino (SFRH/BD/145383/2019) and D. Rosa (SFRH/BD/143845/2019), and Project UIDB/05183/2020 to Mediterranean Institute for Agriculture, Environment and Development (MED).

References

[1] Castro M. M. et al. PLoS ONE, 2021, 16(6): e0252792

[2] Ramos, P. A. et al. J. Agric. Food Chem., 2013, 61(35), 8420-8429