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.
keywords
RESOLUTION MELTING ANALYSIS; CULTURED RAT HEPATOCYTES; SCOLYMUS L. EXTRACTS; GLOBE ARTICHOKE; PHENOLIC-COMPOUNDS; CHLOROGENIC ACID; HYDROXYCINNAMOYL-COENZYME; DICAFFEOYLQUINIC ACIDS; ANTIOXIDANT ACTIVITY; PARTIAL-PURIFICATION
subject category
Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology; Genetics & Heredity
authors
Ferro, AM; Ramos, P; Guerreiro, O; Jeronimo, E; Pires, I; Capel, C; Capel, J; Lozano, R; Duarte, MF; Oliveira, MM; Goncalves, S
our authors
Maria de Fátima Pereira Duarte
Principal Researcher
Patrícia Alexandra Bogango Ramos Portela
Post-Doc Fellowship
Sónia Claudia Morgado Gonçalves
Research Assistantacknowledgements
Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia (FCT) is gratefully acknowledged for the PhD fellowships (Refs. SFRH/BD/68847/2010; SFRH/BD/70845/2010 and SFRH/BD/84406/2012) awarded to AF, PR and OG, respectively. SG was supported by Programa Ciencia 2008, also funded by POPH (QREN). This project was funded by European Regional Development Fund (FEDER), Programa Operacional Regional do Alentejo through projects BioEcos Valorizacao Integrada de Biomassa (ALENT-09-0140-FEDER-000705 and ValBioTecCynara (ALT20-03-0145-FEDER-000038) - Economic valorisation of Cardoon (Cynara cardunculus): study of natural variability and biotechnological applications). Thanks are also due to GREEN-it "Bioresources for sustainability" (UID/Multi/04551/2013). The authors also thank Junta de Andalucia (grant P12-AGR-1482) and Campus de Excelencia Internacional Agroalimentario (CeiA3) for supporting this research collaboration.