Genetic diversity and volatile oil components variation in Achillea fragrantissima wild accessions and their regenerated genotypes

Abdelfattah Badr; Hanaa H El-Shazly; Mahmoud Sakr; Mai M Farid; Marwa Hamouda; Eman Elkhateeb; Hanan Syed Ahmad

doi:10.1186/s43141-021-00267-3

Genetic diversity and volatile oil components variation in Achillea fragrantissima wild accessions and their regenerated genotypes

J Genet Eng Biotechnol. 2021 Oct 25;19(1):166. doi: 10.1186/s43141-021-00267-3.

Authors

Abdelfattah Badr¹, Hanaa H El-Shazly², Mahmoud Sakr³, Mai M Farid⁴, Marwa Hamouda⁵, Eman Elkhateeb⁵, Hanan Syed Ahmad⁵

Affiliations

¹ Botany and Microbiology Department, Faculty of Science, Helwan University, Cairo, 117900, Egypt. abadr@science.helwan.edu.eg.
² Department of Biological Sciences and Geology, Faculty of Education, Ain Shams University, Cairo, 11341, Egypt.
³ Department of Plant Biotechnology, National Research Center, Cairo, Egypt.
⁴ Department of Phytochemistry and Plant Systematics, National Research Centre, Cairo, Egypt. mainscience2000@gmail.com.
⁵ Botany and Microbiology Department, Faculty of Science, Tanta University, Tanta, 31527, Egypt.

Abstract

Background: Wild medicinal plants are suffering natural environmental stresses and habitat destruction. The genetic diversity evaluation of wild accessions and their in vitro raised genotypes using molecular markers, as well as the estimation of substances of pharmaceutical value in wild plants and their regenerated genotypes are convenient approaches to test the genetic fidelity of regenerated plants as a source of substances of pharmaceutical value. In this study, the genetic diversity of 12 accessions of the medicinal plant Achillea fragrantissima, representing five sites in the mountains of South Sinai, Egypt, were estimated by the inter simple sequence repeats (ISSR) fingerprinting and their volatile oil components were identified using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis. The same accessions were regenerated in vitro and the genetic diversity and volatile oil components of propagated genotypes were determined and compared to their wild parents.

Results: Clustering and principal component analyses indicated that the wild accessions and their regenerated genotypes were genetically differentiated, but the regenerated plants are relatively more diverse compared to their wild parents. However, genetic variation between wild accessions is inherited to their in vitro propagated genotypes indicating genotypic differentiation of the examined accessions. The number of volatile oil compounds in the wild A. fragrantissima accessions was 31 compounds while in the in vitro propagated plants only 24 compounds were detected. Four major compounds are common to both wild and regenerated plants; these are artemisia ketone, alpha-thujone, dodecane, and piperitone.

Conclusions: Genome profiling and essential oil components analysis showed variations in A. fragrantissima accessions from different populations. Genetic differences between wild and regenerated genotypes were analyzed and validated with the final conclusion that in vitro conditions elicited higher genetic variation that is associated with reduced amount and diversity in the essential oil components.

Keywords: Achillea fragrantissima; Essential oil; Genetic diversity; In vitro regeneration.

Grants and funding

4218/science and technology development fund