Abstract
The chemical composition of pentacyclic triterpenes was analysed using a ‘Royal Gala’ x ‘Granny Smith’ segregating population in 2013 and 2015, using apple peels extracted from mature fruit at harvest and after 12 weeks of cold storage. In 2013, 20 compound isoforms from nine unique compound classes were measured for both treatments. In 2015, 20 and 17 compound isoforms from eight unique compound classes were measured at harvest and after cold storage, respectively. In total, 68 quantitative trait loci (QTLs) were detected on 13 linkage groups (LG). Thirty two and 36 QTLs were detected for compounds measured at harvest and after cold storage, respectively. The apple chromosomes with the most QTLs were LG3, LG5, LG9 and LG17. The largest effect QTL was for trihydroxy-urs-12-ene-28-oic acid, located on LG5; this was measured in 2015 after storage, and was inherited from the ‘Royal Gala’ parent (24.9% of the phenotypic variation explained).
Highlights
The chemical composition of pentacyclic triterpenes was analysed using a ‘Royal Gala’ x ‘Granny Smith’ segregating population in 2013 and 2015, using apple peels extracted from mature fruit at harvest and after 12 weeks of cold storage
The subject is widely reviewed and the reader is directed to the following references as a starting point[2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12], wherein the potential for conjugated and non-conjugated pentacyclic triterpenes as anti-inflammatory[7], anti-microbial, anti-fungal and anti-protozoal agents, as well as inhibiting initiation, promotion, and metastasis of cancer[4,7,9], anabolic effects on skeletal muscles, the ability to suppress bone density loss leading to osteoporosis, and health beneficial effects against cardiovascular disease, asthma and pulmonary dysfunction, diabetes, and obesity, is assessed
The dedicated pathway starts with the condensation of dimethylallyl diphosphate and isopentenyl diphosphate to produce farnesyl diphosphate, two molecules of which lead to squalene and oxidation to 2, 3-oxidosqualene
Summary
The chemical composition of pentacyclic triterpenes was analysed using a ‘Royal Gala’ x ‘Granny Smith’ segregating population in 2013 and 2015, using apple peels extracted from mature fruit at harvest and after 12 weeks of cold storage. Thirty two and 36 QTLs were detected for compounds measured at harvest and after cold storage, respectively. The dedicated pathway starts with the condensation of dimethylallyl diphosphate and isopentenyl diphosphate to produce farnesyl diphosphate, two molecules of which lead to squalene and oxidation to 2, 3-oxidosqualene These reactions are carried out by the enzymes farnesyl diphosphate synthase, squalene synthase and squalene epoxidase. Differences in triterpene composition have been measured across 109 apple cultivars[22], including an in-depth study of differences between ‘Royal Gala’ and ‘Merton Russet’[19], indicating potential genetic control. We present a study about a specific class of compound with potential health properties, the pentacyclic triterpenes and map quantitative trait loci (QTLs) for it onto the apple genome
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