CNR ExploRA

Presentazione, 2013, ENG

A BOTTOM-UP APPROACH AIMED TO TRACEABILITY AND VALUE INCREASE OF ENDIVE CULTIVARS: FROM THE NMR CARBOHYDRATE METABOLIC PROFILING TO EXPRESSION ANALYSIS AND ALLELE DIVERSITY OF INULIN GENES. DI GIACOMO

TESTONE G., DI GIACOMO E., SOBOLEV A.P. NICOLODI C., ARNESI G., SCHIAPPA A., BIANCARI T., CAPITANI D., MANNINA L., GIANNINO D.

TG, EDG, NC, DG: IBBA-CNR ASP, DC: IMC-CNR LM: Università La Sapienza di Roma AS, GA, TB: Enza Zaden Italia

Endive and escarole (C. endivia var. crispum and var. latifolium) are consumed as fresh or minimally processed food; Italy is a major producer in Europe and the CISIA project focuses on developing knowledge and tools to enhance their traceability and value. The profiles of carbohydrate content, including that of inulin (a prebiotic), gene transcription and allelic variability were used to fingerprint cultivars of broad-leafed ('Confiance' and 'Flester', a.k.a. escaroles) and curly-leafed endive ('E02.7162' and 'Myrna') at harvest. NMR profiling of over thirty hydro-soluble metabolites allowed statistically significant discrimination of the broad- from the curly- leafed genotypes. As for carbohydrates, significant differences were observed for sucrose, glucose and fructose among the four cultivars. Moreover, the inulin content (g kg-1 dry weight) of the curlyleafed varieties was ca. two fold higher than that of escaroles (11.9± 4.3 vs 6.23±1.4). Subsequently, inulin synthesis (fructosyl-fructosyl transferase, FFT; sucrose sucrosyl transferase, SST) and catabolic (Fructan 1-exohydrolases I and II, FEHI and FEHIIa) gene expression was assayed. Both SST and FFT transcription levels varied in the four genotypes, being maximal in 'Myrna', followed by 'E02.7162', 'Confiance' and 'Flester'. The FEHI transcription was steady in all cultivars, whereas that of FEHIIa was maximal and minimal in 'Confiance' and 'Flester' escaroles, respectively, and was comparable in the two curly-leafed endives. Overall, the mRNA abundance of the two catabolic genes was significantly higher than those of synthesis. Finally, structural diversity (single nucleotide polymorphism, SNP) of the aforesaid inulin genes was studied and SNPs in 1- SST were effective to univocally fingerprint 'Flester' and 'E02.7162' among the four genotypes.

Proceedings of the 57th Italian Society of Agricultural Genetics Annual Congress, Foggia, Italy, 16/19 September