Impact of novel SNPs identified in Cynara cardunculus genes on functionality of proteins regulating phenylpropanoid pathway and their association with biological activities

authors	Ferro, AM; Ramos, P; Guerreiro, O; Jeronimo, E; Pires, I; Capel, C; Capel, J; Lozano, R; Duarte, MF; Oliveira, MM; Goncalves, S
nationality	International
journal	BMC GENOMICS
author keywords	Cynara cardunculus; Chlorogenic acid; C3'H; HQT; High-resolution melting; SNPs; Haplotype; Antioxidant activity; Antithrombin activity; Association analysis
keywords	RESOLUTION MELTING ANALYSIS; CULTURED RAT HEPATOCYTES; SCOLYMUS L. EXTRACTS; GLOBE ARTICHOKE; PHENOLIC-COMPOUNDS; CHLOROGENIC ACID; HYDROXYCINNAMOYL-COENZYME; DICAFFEOYLQUINIC ACIDS; ANTIOXIDANT ACTIVITY; PARTIAL-PURIFICATION
abstract	Background: Cynara cardunculus L. offers a natural source of phenolic compounds with the predominant molecule being chlorogenic acid. Chlorogenic acid is gaining interest due to its involvement in various biological properties such as, antibacterial, antifungal, antioxidant, hepatoprotective, and anticarcinogenic activities. Results: In this work we screened a Cynara cardunculus collection for new allelic variants in key genes involved in the chlorogenic acid biosynthesis pathway. The target genes encode p-coumaroyl ester 3'-hydroxylase (C3'H) and hydroxycinnamoyl-CoA: quinate hydroxycinnamoyl transferase (HQT), both participating in the synthesis of chlorogenic acid. Using high-resolution melting, the C3'H gene proved to be highly conserved with only 4 haplotypes while, for HQT, 17 haplotypes were identified de novo. The putative influence of the identified polymorphisms in C3'H and HQT proteins was further evaluated using bioinformatics tools. We could identify some polymorphisms that may lead to protein conformational changes. Chlorogenic acid content, antioxidant and antithrombin activities were also evaluated in Cc leaf extracts and an association analysis was performed to assess a putative correlation between these traits and the identified polymorphisms. Conclusion: In this work we identified allelic variants with putative impact on C3'H and HQT proteins which are significantly associated with chlorogenic acid content and antioxidant activity. Further study of these alleles should be explored to assess putative relevance as genetic markers correlating with Cynara cardunculus biological properties with further confirmation by functional analysis.
publisher	BIOMED CENTRAL LTD
issn	1471-2164
year published	2017
volume	18
issue	1
digital object identifier (doi)	10.1186/s12864-017-3534-8
web of science category	Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology; Genetics & Heredity
subject category	Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology; Genetics & Heredity
unique article identifier	WOS:000394418500002