Cynara cardunculus L. as a Multipurpose Crop for Plant Secondary Metabolites Production in Marginal Stressed Lands

Abstract

Cardoon (Cynara cardunculus L.) is a Mediterranean crop, member of the Asteraceae family, characterized by high production of biomass and secondary metabolites and by a good adaptation to climate change, usable in green chemistry, nutraceutical, and pharmaceutical sectors. Recent studies demonstrated the ability of cardoon to grow up in a stressful environment, which is associated with enhanced biosynthesis of biologically active compounds in these plants, and this effect is increased by abiotic stresses (salt, heat, pollution, and drought stress) that characterize many world marginal areas, affected by the climate changes. The plant response to these stresses consists in implementing different processes that modify some plant biological functions, such as alleviating both cellular hyperosmolarity and ion disequilibrium or synthesizing antioxidant molecules. The aim of this work was to investigate different cardoon response mechanisms to abiotic stresses and to evaluate their influence on the biologically active compounds biosynthesis. Following this purpose, we analyzed the ability of cardoon seeds to germinate under different salt stress conditions, and on the sprouts obtained, we measured the total phenol content and the antioxidant activity. Moreover, the growth of cardoon seedlings grown under heavy metals stress conditions was monitored, and the expression levels of heavy metal transport-associated genes were analyzed. The results showed the ability of cardoon plants to tolerate abiotic stress, thanks to different defense mechanisms and the possibility to obtain biomass with high content of biologically active molecules by exploiting the natural tolerance of this species for abiotic stresses. Moreover, we identified some important genes encoding for metal transportation that may be involved in arsenic and cadmium uptake and translocation in C. cardunculus. Then, this species can be considered as a promising crop for green chemistry and energy in marginal lands.

Phenolic and Carotenoid Profile of Lamb’s Lettuce and Improvement of the Bioactive Content by Preharvest Conditions

“…Plant development and yield are strongly affected by mineral nutrition and environmental stresses that reallocate resources from primary to secondary metabolism with a direct effect on product quality [ 15 ]. In some species it has been shown that salt stress induced the synthesis of substances in proportion to the increase in NaCl concentrations, confirming the important role of these molecules for the tolerance to stress conditions in plants and salinity as an efficient technique for increasing the secondary metabolite content in plants [ 17 ]. However, little information on the phytochemical profile of V. locusta can be found, with the exception of some recent works [ 18 ].…”

Chemical Composition of Cynara cardunculus L. var. altilis Bracts Cultivated in Central Greece: The Impact of Harvesting Time

“…sylvestris Lamk Fiori). Commonly known as cardoon or artichoke thistle, it is widely used due to its multifaceted properties not only as a food ingredient but also in various industrial applications [2][3][4].…”

A Review on the Beneficial Role of Silicon against Salinity in Non-Accumulator Crops: Tomato as a Model

“…Examples of the former are phenolic compounds, whose chemical structure allows hydrogen atom transfer mechanisms (HAT) to occur via a pure H transfer, or an electron transfer followed by a proton release, or a proton loss followed by an electron transfer [ 28 ]. In Cynara , a plant mainly found in arid and semi-arid regions often subjected to salinity, NaCl stress induces the synthesis of phenolic substances in proportion to the increase in salt concentration and this increase in salinity has proven to be a good technique to enhance the secondary metabolite content in plants grown for nutraceutical use [ 29 ]. Among the most common secondary metabolites found at higher levels in plants stressed by salt are isoorientin, orientin, vitexin, rutin [ 30 ], as well as phenolic acids [ 31 ].…”