Phytocannabinoids biosynthesis during early stages of development of young Cannabis sativa L. seedlings: Integrating biochemical and transcription data

Flavia Fulvio; Giuseppe Mandolino; Cinzia Citti; Nicola Pecchioni; Giuseppe Cannazza; Roberta Paris

doi:10.1016/j.phytochem.2023.113793

Phytocannabinoids biosynthesis during early stages of development of young Cannabis sativa L. seedlings: Integrating biochemical and transcription data

Phytochemistry. 2023 Oct:214:113793. doi: 10.1016/j.phytochem.2023.113793. Epub 2023 Jul 20.

Authors

Flavia Fulvio¹, Giuseppe Mandolino², Cinzia Citti³, Nicola Pecchioni⁴, Giuseppe Cannazza³, Roberta Paris⁵

Affiliations

¹ CREA-Research Centre for Cereal and Industrial Crops, Via di Corticella 133, 40128, Bologna, Italy; Department of Sciences of Agriculture, Food Natural Resources and Engineering, University of Foggia, Via Napoli 25, 71122, Foggia, Italy.
² CREA-Research Centre for Cereal and Industrial Crops, Via di Corticella 133, 40128, Bologna, Italy.
³ CNR NANOTEC-Institute of Nanotechnology, Via Monteroni, 73100, Lecce, Italy; Department of Life Science, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Via G. Campi 103, 41125, Modena, Italy.
⁴ CREA-Research Centre for Cereal and Industrial Crops, S.S. 673 Km 25,200, 71122, Foggia, Italy.
⁵ CREA-Research Centre for Cereal and Industrial Crops, Via di Corticella 133, 40128, Bologna, Italy. Electronic address: roberta.paris@crea.gov.it.

PMID: 37479208
DOI: 10.1016/j.phytochem.2023.113793

Abstract

Cannabis sativa (L.) is characterized by great genetic and phenotypic diversity, also expressed in the array of bioactive compounds synthesized. Despite its great potential economic interest, knowledge of the biology and genetics of this crop is incomplete, and still many efforts are needed for a complete understanding of the molecular mechanisms regulating its key traits. To better understand the synthesis of these compounds, we analysed the transcription levels of cannabinoid pathway genes during early phases of plant development, then comparing the transcriptional results with a chemical characterization of the same samples. The work was conducted on both industrial and medicinal C. sativa plants, using samples belonging to three different chemotypes. Genes coding for the cannabinoid synthases, involved in the last step of the cannabinoid biosynthetic pathway, were found to be already expressed in the seed, providing a measure of the importance of this metabolism for the plant. Cannabichromenic acid is known as the first cannabinoid accumulating in the seedlings, shortly after emergence, and it was found that there is a good correspondence between transcript accumulation of the cannabichromenic acid synthase gene and accumulation of the corresponding metabolite.

Keywords: CBCA; Cannabinoids; Juvenile; RT-qPCR.