Biochemical Composition of Pulp and Seed of Wild Jack (Artocarpus hirsutus Lam.) Fruit.

Wild jack (Artocarpus hirsutus Lam.) is an endemic perennial tree of Western Ghats of India. Wild jack, a timber purpose tree, is distributed in several Kaan community forests. Although local people consume unripe as well as fully ripe fruits and roasted seeds, wild jack is unrecognized as a fruit tree. It remains almost undocumented with respect to nutritional value in terms of biochemical composition. We carried out biochemical profiling of ripe fruits and seeds of wild jack. Every 100 g fruit pulp was composed of 12 g total soluble sugars, 16.7 g total starch, 441 µg total carotenoids (beta carotene equivalent) and 8.1 mg ascorbic acid, 0.4 mg GAE total phenol and showed total cupric reducing antioxidant activity of 1.9 mg gallic acid equivalents (GAE). Every 100 g whole seed flour was composed of 6 g total soluble sugars, 6.6 g starch, 9.9 g total proteins, 3 mg GAE total phenol and 3.1 mg GAE total antioxidant capacity. Biochemical profiles of wild jackfruit and seeds were comparable with those of other Artocarpus fruits like jackfruit and bread fruit. Our findings suggest that wild jack deserves to be promoted as a minor fruit species of high nutritional importance and must be considered as a potential fruit crop species for further research.

Jack of all trades: Genome assembly of Wild Jack and comparative genomics of Artocarpus.

Artocarpus (Moraceae), known as breadfruits for their diverse nutritious fruits, is prized for its high-quality timber, medicinal value, and economic importance. Breadfruits are native to Southeast Asia but have been introduced to other continents. The most commonly cultivated species are Artocarpus heterophyllus (Jackfruit) and Artocarpus altilis (Breadfruit). With numerous smaller but nutritionally comparable fruits on a larger tree, Artocarpus hirsutus, also called "Wild Jack" or "Ayani", is an elusive forest species endemic to Indian Western Ghats. In this study, we sequenced and assembled the whole genome of Artocarpus hirsutus sampled from the sacred groves of Coorg, India. To decipher demographic and evolutionary history, we compared our Wild Jack genome with previously published Jackfruit and Breadfruit genomes. Demographic history reconstruction indicates a stronger effect of habitat rather than phylogeny on the population histories of these plants. Repetitive genomic regions, especially LTR Copia, strongly affected the demographic trajectory of A. heterophyllus. Upon further investigation, we found a recent lineage-specific accumulation of LTR Copia in A. heterophyllus, which had a major contribution to its larger genome size. Several genes from starch, sucrose metabolism, and plant hormone signal transduction pathways, in Artocarpus species had signatures of selection and gene family evolution. Our comparative genomic framework provides important insights by incorporating endemic species such as the Wild Jack.