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Variation of bioactive secondary metabolites in Hypericum origanifolium during its phenological cycle

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Abstract

The genus Hypericum has received considerable interest from scientists, as it contains the variety of structurally diverse natural products which possess a wide array of biological properties. The present study was conducted to determine ontogenetic and morphogenetic variation of hypericin, chlorogenic acid and flavonoids, as rutin, hyperoside, apigenin-7-O-glucoside, quercitrin and quercetin content in Hypericum origanifolium growing in Turkey. Wild growing plants were harvested at vegetative, floral budding, full flowering, fresh fruiting and mature fruiting stages and dissected into stem, leaf and reproductive tissues and assayed for bioactive compounds by HPLC method. Hypericin, quercetin and quercitrin content in whole plant increased during course of ontogenesis and the highest level was reached in blooming stage. On the contrary, hyperoside content of whole plant decreased linearly with advancing of development stages and the highest level was observed at vegetative stage. Plants produced similar amount of chlorogenic acid at all stages of plant phenology except for mature fruiting at which the amount of this compound was decreased sharply. Among different tissues, reproductive parts accumulated the highest level of hypericin, quercetin and quercitrin, however, leaves produced substantially higher amount of chlorogenic acid and hyperoside. Rutin and apigenin-7-O-glucoside were detectable in all tissues only during fruit maturation. The presence and variation of these bioactive substances in H. origanifolium were reported for the first time.

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Acknowledgments

Authors are grateful to Dr. Sebahat (Özman) Sullivan, Department of Plant Protection, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Ondokuz Mayıs, Turkey, for preparing Fig. 3.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Agriculture, Department of Agronomy, University of Ondokuz Mayis, 55139 Kurupelit, Samsun, Turkey

    Cüneyt Çirak

  2. Institute of Botany, Zaliuju ezeru 49, Vilnius, 2021, Lithuania

    Jolita Radušienė

  3. Kaunas University of Medicine, A. Mickeviciaus 9, Kaunas, 44307, Lithuania

    Liudas Ivanauskas & Valdimaras Janulis

Authors
  1. Cüneyt Çirak
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  2. Jolita Radušienė
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  3. Liudas Ivanauskas
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  4. Valdimaras Janulis
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Correspondence to Cüneyt Çirak.

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Communicated by M. Saniewski.

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Çirak, C., Radušienė, J., Ivanauskas, L. et al. Variation of bioactive secondary metabolites in Hypericum origanifolium during its phenological cycle. Acta Physiol Plant 29, 197–203 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11738-007-0024-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11738-007-0024-7

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