Phytochemical and genetic characterization of styles of wild Crocus species from the island of Crete, Greece and comparison to those of cultivated C. sativus

Abstract

The aim of this study was to contribute to the characterization of Crocus taxa using morphological, phytochemical and genetic analysis. The styles of C. cartwrightianus, C. oreocreticus and C. laevigatus, collected in the island of Crete were compared to those of C. sativus cultivated at the region of Western Macedonia (Greece). Phytochemical analysis was done using GC-MS and HPLC methods, while ISSR markers were used for their genetic characterization. Safranal was the major volatile component of the styles of C. sativus, 4-hydroxy-2,6,6-trimethyl-1-cyclohexene-1-carboxaldehyde of C. cartwrightianus and C. oreocreticus, and isophorone of C. laevigatus. C. sativus had the highest content of crocins and picrocrocin, while C. laevigatus the lowest (only 5% of C. sativus' quantity) and negligible amount of picrocrocin. According to both the genetic and the chemical analysis, C. cartwrightianus is more related to C. oreocreticus, while C. sativus and C. laevigatus are more distinct. Concordance between the two different types of data was also confirmed by the Mantel test (r = 0.932, P = .68). This is the first thorough screening of secondary metabolites (volatile and non-volatile) and also genetic and morphological characters of wild Crocus styles simultaneously, that contributes to the identification and valorisation of genotypes with similar to C. sativus traits which may be introduced as new cultivars through breeding.

Keywords: 4-hydroxy-2,6,6-trimethyl-3-oxocyclohexa-1,4-diene-1-carboxaldehyde (PubChem CID: 15715950); 4-ketoisophorone (PubChem CID: 62374); 4-methyleneisophorone (PubChem CID: 641351); Crocin-4 (PubChem CID: 91639 & 5281233); Crocins; Crocus; HTCC (PubChem CID: 13374320); ISSR markers; Saffron; Styles; Volatiles; crocin-3 (PubChem CID: 9940690); dihydrooxophorone (PubChem CID: 30181); isophorone (PubChem CID: 6544); phenylethyl alcohol (PubChem CID: 6054); picrocrocin (PubChem CID: 130796); safranal (PubChem CID: 61041); trans-β-ionone (PubChem CID: 638014); β-isophorone (PubChem CID: 10108).