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Inflorescences of the floral grapevine cv Muscat Gordo Blanco (syn. Muscat of Alexandria) were grown on their own shoots until maturity or, after approach-grafting before flowering, on the shoots of the non-floral cv Shiraz (in the glasshouse) or Sultana (in the field). The flavour compounds of their berries were compared with those in the berries of the non-floral cultivars, grown either on their own shoots or, by grafting, on the shoots of the Muscat cultivar. For this, monoterpene glycosides were isolated from the fruits, enzymatically hydrolysed and the released monoterpene aglycons were liquid-liquid extracted and analysed by GC-MS. The Muscat Gordo Blanco berries of ungrafted bunches and of bunches grafted onto Shiraz or Sultana vines yielded fruit with monoterpenes at levels and types typical of this floral grape variety. The berries of Shiraz and Sultana bunches contained only low levels of monoterpene glycosides both on their own shoots or grafted onto Muscat shoots. The lack of difference between flavour compounds in grafted and nongrafted fruit indicate that aroma compounds are synthesised in the berries and that their presence is determined by the genotype of the grape bunch rather than by the genotype of the vine.

In total, 42 accessions of Origanum vulgare L., mostly originating from Europe, were evaluated, to detect molecular, quantitative morphological, and chemotype polymorphisms and to discover possible correlations between them. Twelve traits related to morphological characteristics were measured. The components in the essential oils were identified by GC/MS analysis, and the oil contents of 18 major compounds were determined. A total of 477 molecular polymorphisms including 214 AFLP (amplified fragment length polymorphism) and 263 SAMPL (selectively amplified microsatellite polymorphic loci) were used for genotyping. Euclidean distances of morphological and chemotypic data and genetic distances (1 - Dice's similarity) of molecular markers were compared by applying Mantel tests to ascertain the congruencies between them. A relatively high correlation between chemotypic patterns and genetic markers was identified, while a lower correlation was found between the morphological and genetic matrices. Pairwise analyses of correlation among all traits showed that the stem diameter was correlated to the essential-oil yield and the carvacrol content. Cluster analysis, population inference, and principal component analysis revealed a broad genetic and chemical variation among the accessions. The knowledge of these diversities, found in this study, will allow a plant improvement of Origanum vulgare related to pharmaceutical and spice uses.

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Hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna Jacq.) is a wild edible fruit tree of the genus Crataegus, one of the most interesting genera of the Rosaceae family. This review is the first to consider, all together, the pharmaceutical, phytochemical, functional and therapeutic properties of C. monogyna based on numerous valuable secondary metabolites, including flavonoids, vitamin C, glycoside, anthocyanin, saponin, tannin and antioxidants. Previous reviews dealt with the properties of all species of the entire genera. We highlight the multi-therapeutic role that C. monogyna extracts could have in the treatment of different chronic and degenerative diseases, mainly focusing on flavonoids. In the first part of this comprehensive review, we describe the main botanical characteristics and summarize the studies which have been performed on the morphological and genetic characterization of the C. monogyna germplasm. In the second part, the key metabolites and their nutritional and pharmaceutical properties are described. This work could be an essential resource for promoting future therapeutic formulations based on this natural and potent bioactive plant extract.

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