Lipidomic profiling reveals phenotypic diversity and nutritional benefits in Ficus carica L. (Fig.) seed cultivars.

Introduction: Ficus carica L. seeds are a substantial source of minor oil with high unsaturation levels and potent antioxidant properties. The study aims to evaluate the mineral composition, lipodomic profile, and vibrational fingerprints of 22 fig genotypes utilizing FTIR-ATR techniques and chemometrics. Methods: FTIR-ATR spectroscopy and chemometric techniques were employed to examine the phenotypic diversity of fig seeds. The investigation was performed in detail. The research analyzed twenty-two fig genotypes to assess their nutritional properties, genetic relationships, and potential applications. Results: The results demonstrate substantial nutritional benefits related to fig seeds, which could serve as genetic resources for selection programs for extracting vegetable oil and functional ingredients. Additionally, a detailed lipodomic profile analysis led to the categorization of the genotypes into four unique clusters. The study uncovered new insights regarding the nutritional composition of the samples, while also highlighting significant similarities and differences. The findings showcased the phenotypic diversity within the studied fig germplasm, which is likely attributed to underlying genetic factors. These accessions offer a valuable gene pool for future breeding programs and diverse applications involving fig seeds. Discussion: This work contributes to the selection of potential genotypes for scientific and industrial purposes. Furthermore, the application of FTIR and chemometrics revealed a noteworthy diversity of patterns, emphasizing the previously underestimated significance of this aspect in evaluating the chemodiversity of the species.

Freeze dried pomegranate juices of Moroccan fruits: main representative phenolic compounds.

BACKGROUND: The pomegranate (Punica granatum) is an ancient perennial plant species of the Punicaceae family. Its seeds are consumed as food or as juice. Previous studies have noted that pomegranate juice encompasses many active compounds with beneficial effects. The main goals of this work were to study the phenolic components of freeze-dried and reconstituted pomegranate juices obtained from 13 pomegranate genotypes growing in Morocco. RESULTS: We analyzed several pomegranate juices using high-performance liquid chromatography and high-resolution mass spectrometry to determine phenolic compounds. Twenty-seven bio-phenols, belonging to four different classes (phenolic acids, hydrolyzable tannins, anthocyanins, and flavonoids), were identified based on their accurate mass measurements, and quantified. Some encouraging results were obtained. Even though the freeze-drying process introduced a marked degradation of bio-phenols, substantially lowering their levels in the reconstituted fruit juices, these fruit juices were still rich enough in bio-phenols to compete with some fresh fruit juices. The reconstituted juices obtained by rehydration of the lyophilized material still differed enough to enable a statistical classification based on their polyphenol content. A correlation analysis was applied to the polyphenol data to explore correlations and similarities between genotypes. CONCLUSIONS: The results showed that freeze-drying and reconstitution of juices introduced some degradation of the polyphenol content. The overall polyphenolic pattern within the same cultivar, in two different harvesting years, was maintained, however, suggesting the composition stability of the freeze-dried juices produced in this time span. © 2022 Society of Chemical Industry.

Pomegranate morpho-chemodiversity: computational investigations based on in-vivo and in-vitro screening.

Pomegranate tree is cultivated since ancient times in Morocco, where a high genetic diversity is hosted mainly in traditional agroecosystems. Over the past decade, it regained importance through extension of cultivated area, but remains thus far little valued. To date, its genetic variability and chemodiversity have gone unheeded for many reasons, some of which are related to previous agricultural strategies. In this context, the present study aimed to screen an ex-situ collection of seven local cultivars and seven exotic varieties with regard to 50 fruit morphometric and biochemical descriptors. The results showed statistically significant variability within accessions (p < 0.01), based on all aforementioned traits, except for seed weight, with coefficients of variation greater than 49%. This indicated a high level of phenotypic diversity among the studied genetic pool. The 3D scatter plot built based on the principal component analysis displayed an interesting discrimination with regard to the genotypes' geographic origins with a total variance of about 50%. According to morphometric based-heatmap, four main clusters were identified distinguishing the typicality of some local cultivars compared to exotic varieties, mainly 'Sefri', 'Bzou', 'Chioukhi' and 'Djeibi'. Traits having the highest impact on discrimination between accessions were, by order of importance, fruit weight and its dimensions, juice yield, aril yield, single aril diameter, soluble sugars (glucose and fructose) along with contents in some organic acids, including citric, palmitic, linoleic and malic acids. Potential statistically significant correlations were spotted through bi-dimensional heatmap analysis, particularly between the fruit size, shape and peel traits along with some biochemical attributes. As many areas of the species chemodiversity and functional properties are still needed to be investigated further, the results of the present study are of great interest for the species valorization and for breeding programs.

Combined Effect of Cultivar and Peel Chromaticity on Figs' Primary and Secondary Metabolites: Preliminary Study Using Biochemical and FTIR Fingerprinting Coupled to Chemometrics.

Figs are a traditional pantry staple for healthy eating in Middle Eastern and North African countries as fig trees grow abundantly in such hot and dry climates. Despite the importance of this species, chemotypic diversity has gone unheeded and therefore its valorization pathways remain poorly documented. For this reason, high-pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) alongside vibrational spectroscopy were used to investigate the changes of antiradical potency and primary and secondary metabolites in fresh figs with regard to the combined effect of the cultivar factor and the fruit peel chromatic coordinates. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) fingerprinting displayed six major peaks assigned to functional groups of the investigated samples with significant differences in their vibration intensities. Biochemical screening revealed highly significant variability (p < 0.05) among the investigated cultivars. Antioxidant activity was found to be higher in free radical scavenging using 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) compared to ferric reducing ability (FRAP). Chemometric investigations of both biochemical and FTIR fingerprinting showed satisfactory resolutions, and the total phenol contents and chromatic coordinates had the highest scores in the dataset. However, the cultivars' geographical origin seemed not to have a clear impact on the clustering results. The aforementioned analytical procedures were found to be equally important and can be jointly used for high-resolution screening and discrimination of fig trees.

Survey of Phenolic Acids, Flavonoids and In Vitro Antioxidant Potency Between Fig Peels and Pulps: Chemical and Chemometric Approach.

In the present study, chromatic coordinates, phenolic acids, flavonoids and antioxidant capacity assessed by 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), 2,2'-azino-bis (3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonate (ABTS) and lipid peroxidation inhibition capacity (LPIC) essays and their relative IC50 were investigated in 25 fig cultivars growing in Morocco. The aims of this study were to determine (i) the variation in these compounds among light and dark-colored cultivars, (ii) their partitioning between fruit peel and pulp and (iii) to display network connections among these variables. Twelve phenolic compounds (PCs) were isolated in peel extract versus eight in pulp samples. Anthocyanins, mainly cyanidin-3,5-diglucoside and cyanidin-3-O-rutinoside, were the predominant compounds in peels, where the mean concentrations were 75.90 ± 18.76 and 77.97 ± 18.95 µg/g dw, respectively. On the other hand, (-)-epicatechin and cyanidin-3-O-rutinoside were the major compounds in the pulp extracts, where the mean values were 5.23 ± 4.03 and 9.01 ± 5.67 µg/g dw, respectively. A two-dimensional hierarchically clustered heatmap was applied to the dataset to explore correlations in the dataset and similarities between cultivars, without dimensionality reduction. Results showed that anthocyanins, particularly pelargonidin-3-O-rutinoside, cyanidin-3,5-diglucoside and cyanidin-3-O-rutinoside, were the main contributors to the peels' free radical scavenging capacity. This capacity was particularly higher in the peel of dark-colored figs compared to the fruit pulp. The local cultivar "INRA 1301" showed the most promising phenolic profile due to its very high levels of almost all detected PCs, especially (-)-epicatechin, quercetin-3-O-rutinoside, quercetin-3-O-glucoside, cyanidine-3,5-diglucoside, cyanidine-3-O-rutinoside and pelargonidin-3-O-rutinoside (54.66, 141.08, 35.48, 494.08, 478.66, 12.56 µg/g dw, respectively). Having the darkest figs in the collection (L* = 25.72, c* = 22.09 and h° = 20.99), this cultivar has also combined promising IC50 values, which were of 19.85, 40.58 and 124.78 µg/mL for DPPH, ABTS and LPIC essays, respectively.