Abstract
The increasing diffusion of herbal products is posing new questions: why are products so often different in their composition and efficacy? Which approach is more suitable to increase the biochemical productivity of medicinal plants with large-scale, low-cost solutions? Can the phytochemical profile of a medicinal plant be modulated in order to increase the accumulation of its most valuable constituents? Will polyphenol-rich medicinal crops ever be traded as commodities? Providing a proactive answer to such questions is an extremely hard task, due to the large number of variables involved: intraspecific chemodiversity, plant breeding, ontogenetic stage, post-harvest handling, biotic and abiotic factors, to name but a few. An ideal path in this direction should include the definition of optimum pre-harvesting and post-harvesting conditions and the availability of specific Good Agricultural Practices centered on secondary metabolism enhancement. The first steps to be taken are undoubtedly the evaluation and the organization of scattered data regarding the diverse factors involved in the optimization of medicinal plant cultivation, in order to provide an interdisciplinary overview of main possibilities, weaknesses and drawbacks. This review is intended to be a synopsis of the knowledge on this regard focused on Hypericum perforatum L. (Hypericaceae/Guttiferae) secondary metabolites of phenolic origin, with the aim to provide a reference and suggest an evolution towards the maximization of St. John's Wort bioactive constituents. Factors considered emerged not only from in-field agronomic results, but also from physiological, genetical, biotic, abiotic and phytochemical data that could be scaled up to the application level. To increase quality for final beneficiaries, growers’ profits and ultimately transform phenolic-rich medicinal crops into commodities, the emerging trend suggests an integrated and synergic approach. Agronomy and genetics will need to develop their breeding strategies taking account of the suggestions of phytochemistry, biochemistry, pharmacognosy and pharmacology, without losing sight of the economic balance of the production.
Highlights
The increasing diffusion of herbal products is posing new questions: why are products so often different in their composition and efficacy? Which approach is more suitable to increase the biochemical productivity of medicinal plants with large-scale, lowcost solutions? Can the phytochemical profile of a medicinal plant be modulated in order to increase the accumulation of its most valuable constituents? Will polyphenol-rich medicinal crops ever be traded as commodities? Providing a proactive answer to such questions is an extremely hard task, due to the large number of variables involved: intraspecific chemodiversity, plant breeding, ontogenetic stage, post-harvest handling, biotic and abiotic factors, to name but a few
Being the quality of natural drugs defined by the amount of specific active principles and being those substances often of phenolic origin, agronomic studies should not be limited to biomass maximization and cost limitation as they were in the past, and highly focused on phenolic secondary metabolism optimization
According to the perspectives and the contingent needs of H. perforatum market, the main objective of this review is to summarize data treating topics directly and indirectly related with factors influencing the production of biomass and polyphenolic secondary metabolites of Hypericum perforatum L
Summary
The genus Hypericum is widely distributed through the temperate regions and is represented by approximately 450 species, of which only a limited number is known to contain hypericins. According to the quantitative data provided by Kitanov, the presence of hypericins is relevant for chemotaxonomy and those polyphenols seem to be specific only for taxa of more phylogenetically advanced sections of the genus (Hypericum, Drosocarpium, Thasia, Adenosepalum), depicting themselves as an evolutive factor introduced through adaptation Such characteristic is confirmed by the wide range exhibited by H. perforatum on its ecological adaptation scale [37]. Among the Hypericum genus, the therapeutic use and the commercial value of H. perforatum are absolutely pre-eminent, as a consequence of the favourable combination of high hypericin content, wide geographical diffusion and deep ethnopharmacologic history This species, considered native to Europe, Middle East and Norther Africa, has been progressively introduced (both casually and purposedly) to most temperate and tropical mountain regions of the entire planet over a century ago and adapted itself to different climatic and ecological conditions, often reaching weed status. Ssp. angustifolium is mainly diploid and biannual and is characterized by early flowering capacity, low biomass productivity and high degree of generativity, while ssp. perforatum and ssp. latifolium are mainly polyploid, easier to adapt to different ecological conditions and endowed of higher productivity [43]
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