Abstract
Marrubium vulgare is a valuable source of natural bioactive molecules with high preventive and therapeutic effectiveness. Therefore, this study aimed to study the chemical polymorphism of natural populations of M. vulgare in Tunisia by quantitative chemical markers and the estimation of divergence between populations. Phytochemical analyses of the eight natural populations of Tunisian Marrubium vulgare prospected in different bioclimatic stages, revealed 42 compounds of essential oils representing 96.08% to 100% of the total oil. Hydrocarbon sesquiterpenes were the main fraction of all the populations studied and β-bisabolene was the major compound (from 30.11% to 71.35% of the total oil). The phytochemical investigation of the M. vulgare plant indicated the presence of essential oil with significant percentages of phenolic compounds. A significant quantitative and qualitative variation in the essential oils is detected for both major and minor compounds. The principal components analysis (PCA) performed in the single and combined traits provides a good distinction among populations, not according to their geographical and/or bioclimatic origins. Moreover, the phytochemical analysis of the leaves showed that the Tunisian populations, i.e., the populations of Kasserine, Kef, and Beja, were very rich in phenolic compounds (from 20.8 to 44.65 mg GAE/g DW). Flavonoids compounds were also the main class of total polyphenols present in all the tested populations (from 8.91 to 37.48 mg RE/g DW). The quantitative genetic diversity estimated by the population’s structure, based on PCA analysis, was an adaptation to the changes in the environmental conditions. Overall, our study indicated that natural populations of M. vulgare had different chemotypes of essential oils and they were rich in phenolic compounds, particularly flavonoids, which opens a new prospect for industrial use and differential exploitation of this species.
Highlights
Food flavoring, fragrance, cosmetics, and pharmaceutical companies have been in high demand for the essential oils of plants and their other secondary metabolism products in recent years, due to a rising customer interest in natural components [1]
The components of the essential oils were identified by their percentage and their retention indices (RI)
Analysis of M. vulgare essential oil revealed the presence of 42 compounds which represents 96.08–100% of the total oil (Table 2)
Summary
Fragrance, cosmetics, and pharmaceutical companies have been in high demand for the essential oils of plants and their other secondary metabolism products in recent years, due to a rising customer interest in natural components [1]. Excessive exploitation of the species from this family, as for all aromatic and medicinal plants, has led to a serious reduction of population numbers and the destruction of their habitat [4]. This family is well known with two major series of genera: oil-rich and oil-poor species, and several members of the family are used as sources of essential oils. Aschersonii P Magnus, M. alysson, M. supinum L., and M. deserti of Noah [6] This plant, known as “horehound” in Europe and “Om Rubia” in Tunisia, grows wild in dry sandy soils and wastelands, and is widely used as a raw material in the herbal extracts and beverage industries. According to Zarai et al (2011) [20], M. vulgare has a moderate amount of essential oil, about 0.1%
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