Carović-Stanko K., Petek M., Grdiša M., Pintar J., Bedeković D., Herak Ćustić M., Satovic Z. (2016) Historically, species of the family Lamiaceae have enjoyed a rich tradition of use for flavouring, food preservation, and medicinal purposes, due to both their curative and their preventive properties. It is well known that each species has a special, complex mixture of bioactive compounds in which each component contributes to its overall bioactivity. Their value lays in the production of a wide range of secondary metabolites with potent antibacterial, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, antiviral, and anticancer activities. This review focuses on the Lamiaceae species and their secondary metabolites encompassing a wide array of beneficial functions and their applicability as sources of functional foods. It could help in addressing specific consumer needs as healthy diet is a part of the lifestyle that maintains or improves overall health.

In Croatia, the majority of the common bean production is based on local landraces, grown by small-scale farmers in low input production systems. Landraces are adapted to the specific growing conditions and agro-environments and show a great morphological diversity. These local landraces are in danger of genetic erosion caused by complex socio-economic changes in rural communities. The low profitability of farms and their small size, the advanced age of farmers and the replacement of traditional landraces with modern bean cultivars and/or other more profitable crops have been identified as the major factors affecting genetic erosion. Three hundred accessions belonging to most widely used landraces were evaluated by phaseolin genotyping and microsatellite marker analysis. A total of 183 different multi-locus genotypes in the panel of 300 accessions were revealed using 26 microsatellite markers. Out of 183 accessions, 27.32% were of Mesoamerican origin, 68.31% of Andean, while 4.37% of accessions represented putative hybrids between gene pools. Accessions of Andean origin were further classified into phaseolin type II (“H” or “C”) and III (“T”), the latter being more frequent. A model-based cluster analysis based on microsatellite markers revealed the presence of three clusters in congruence with the results of phaseolin type analysis.

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Dalmatian pyrethrum (Tanacetum cinerariifolium Trevir. /Sch./ Bip.) is an outcrossing, perennial insecticidal plant, restricted to the eastern Adriatic coast (Mediterranean). Amplified fragment-length polymorphisms (AFLP) were used to investigate the genetic diversity and structure within and among 20 natural plant populations. The highest level of gene diversity, the number of private alleles and the frequency down-weighted marker values (DW) were found in northern Adriatic populations and gradually decreased towards the southern boundary of the species range. Genetic impoverishment of these southern populations is most likely the result of human-related activities. An analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) indicated that most of the genetic diversity was attributed to differences among individuals within populations (85.78%), which are expected due to the outcrossing nature of the species. A Bayesian analysis of the population structure identified two dominant genetic clusters. A spatial analysis of the genetic diversity indicated that 5.6% of the genetic differentiation resulted from isolation by distance (IBD), while 12.3% of the genetic differentiation among populations followed the pattern of isolation by environmental distance (IBED). Knowledge of the genetic diversity patterns of the natural populations and the mechanism behind these patterns is required for the exploitation and possible conservation management of this endemic and economically important species.

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Most commercial basil cultivars belong to the species Ocimum basilicum L. Moreover, within O. basilicum species, there are five main botanical varieties (var. basilicum L., var. difforme Benth., var. minimum L., var. purpurascens Benth. and var. thyrsiflorum /L./ Benth.) that are mainly found on the market. High levels of both morphological and chemical variability exist within the species due to the intraspecific hybridization and long-term uses throughout the world. The aim of this work was to study the resolving power of morphological traits for reliable identification of basil accessions. Phenotypic dissimilarities between pairs of accessions were calculated, and the unweighted pair-group method dendrogram was constructed. Six clearly defined clusters have been detected, giving a good representation of traditional taxonomic relationships. To compare the efficiency of the morphological traits in accession identification, confusion probability and discriminating power of each trait were calculated. Our results show that with a careful analysis and stringent selection of traits, morphological markers provide an inexpensive and reliable method for routine screening of a large number of accessions, in order to monitor and manage germplasm collections.

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