Edible flowers as functional food: A review on artichoke (Cynara cardunculus L.)

Gostin, Alina-Ioana; Waisundara, Viduranga Y.

doi:10.1016/j.tifs.2019.02.015

Cited by 73 publications

(54 citation statements)

References 63 publications

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“…Besides that, this crop is widely consumed as herbal medicine, due to the known health-promoting effects. Several studies have demonstrated its anticarcinogenic, antioxidant, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, anti-HIV, bile-expelling, hepatoprotective, and hypocholesterolemic potential (Gostin & Waisundara, 2019;Kollia, Markaki, Zoumpoulakis, & Proestos, 2017;Petropoulos, Fernandes, Pereira, 2019;Petropoulos, Fernandes, Tzortzakis, et al, 2019;Scavo et al, 2019). Moreover, recently the commercial and economic potential of cardoon has been recognized due to its nutritional value, bioactive potential, as well as its diverse industrial applications.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Seasonal variation of bioactive properties and phenolic composition of Cynara cardunculus var. altilis

Mandim¹,

Petropoulos

Giannoulis

et al. 2020

Food Research International

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Cynara cardunculus L. (cardoon) has several health benefits mainly attributed to its abundance in polyphenols. In this study, cardoon heads (capitula) were harvested in Greece during the flowering stage, and the hydroethanolic extracts were assessed in terms of phenolic compounds composition and antioxidant, cytotoxic, anti-inflammatory, and antimicrobial activities. The phenolic profile was evaluated by HPLC-DAD-ESI/MS to better understand the seasonal changes in the individual compound levels and how these changes correlate with bioactive properties. The main phenolic compounds identified were caffeoylquinic and dicaffeoylquinic acid derivatives. Immature heads (Car A: principal growth stage (PGS) 5) had the highest phenolic content (34.3 mg/ g) and cytotoxic (GI 50 of 69-268 µg/mL) and anti-inflammatory (IC 50 of 183 µg/mL) activities. Sample Car D (PGS 6/7) revealed the highest antioxidant (IC 50 of 23-227 µg/mL) and antifungal (MIC of 0.26-0.51 mg/mL) potential. Regarding the antibacterial activity, Car E (PGS 7) revealed the best results (MIC of 0.59-1.18 mg/ mL). This study suggests that the maturity stage of the plant influences the phenolic composition and bioactivity.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Seasonal variation of bioactive properties and phenolic composition of Cynara cardunculus var. altilis

Mandim¹,

Petropoulos

Giannoulis

et al. 2020

Food Research International

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“…Flowers thus offer a wide range of phytochemical benefits to human health. Integrating them into a daily or periodic diet can help prevent generalized (i.e., antioxidant activity) and/or specific pathologies ( Gostin and Waisundara, 2019 ).…”

Section: Flowers As Nutraceutical Foodmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Biodiversity of Edible Flowers: Discovering New Tastes and New Health Benefits

Benvenuti

Mazzoncini

2021

Front. Plant Sci.

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Floriculture and horticulture have always been two parallel and very distinct agronomic realities. Floriculture is concerned with meeting the ornamental needs of our urban ecosystems, while horticulture is based on meeting food requirements. These two activities have now converged toward a food chain where flowers are conceived of as a sort of “new vegetable” and one of the most promising novelties to satisfy the growing need for food innovation both in terms of an organoleptic and nutraceutical profile. This novelty has rapidly evolved, especially following the growing scientific evidence of the human health benefits of flowers used as food. The typically high pigment concentration of the corollas (especially flavonoids and carotenoids), which have evolved to chromatically attract pollinators, indicates a marked nutraceutical activity especially in terms of antioxidant power. In this review, we first attempted to explore which species are most promising and which should be avoided due to real or suspected toxicity problems. The nutraceutical virtues were therefore highlighted trying to focus attention on those “functional phytochemicals” capable of counteracting some specific human pathologies. Furthermore, the organoleptic profile of edible flowers was investigated since this is one of the least known aspects. The cropping systems suitable for their cultivation were therefore hypothesized and finally the criticalities of edible flowers were addressed in terms of shelf life and marketing opportunities.

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“…In particular, the capitulum contains antioxidant compounds of substantial quantity and quality, and only few studies investigated such compounds in cultivated cardoon so far [ 7 , 8 ]. In contrast, more work has been done on phenolic acid composition in globe artichoke flower heads [ 9 – 11 ], which shows significant variation in quality and quantity, depending on the harvesting stage [ 12 ]. These phenol compounds are mostly mono- and di-caffeoylquinic acids (CQAs) with a relevant role as structural components of plant cell walls during flowering [ 13 ], and flavonoids, mostly represented by apigenin, luteonin and their conjugates; they protect the plant from solar irradiation acting as reactive oxygen species (ROS) scavenger [ 14 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hybrid transcriptome sequencing approach improved assembly and gene annotation in Cynara cardunculus (L.)

et al. 2020

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Background: The investigation of transcriptome profiles using short reads in non-model organisms, which lack of well-annotated genomes, is limited by partial gene reconstruction and isoform detection. In contrast, long-reads sequencing techniques revealed their potential to generate complete transcript assemblies even when a reference genome is lacking. Cynara cardunculus var. altilis (DC) (cultivated cardoon) is a perennial hardy crop adapted to dry environments with many industrial and nutraceutical applications due to the richness of secondary metabolites mostly produced in flower heads. The investigation of this species benefited from the recent release of a draft genome, but the transcriptome profile during the capitula formation still remains unexplored. In the present study we show a transcriptome analysis of vegetative and inflorescence organs of cultivated cardoon through a novel hybrid RNA-seq assembly approach utilizing both long and short RNA-seq reads. Results: The inclusion of a single Nanopore flow-cell output in a hybrid sequencing approach determined an increase of 15% complete assembled genes and 18% transcript isoforms respect to short reads alone. Among 25, 463 assembled unigenes, we identified 578 new genes and updated 13,039 gene models, 11,169 of which were alternatively spliced isoforms. During capitulum development, 3424 genes were differentially expressed and approximately two-thirds were identified as transcription factors including bHLH, MYB, NAC, C2H2 and MADS-box which were highly expressed especially after capitulum opening. We also show the expression dynamics of key genes involved in the production of valuable secondary metabolites of which capitulum is rich such as phenylpropanoids, flavonoids and sesquiterpene lactones. Most of their biosynthetic genes were strongly transcribed in the flower heads with alternative isoforms exhibiting differentially expression levels across the tissues. Conclusions: This novel hybrid sequencing approach allowed to improve the transcriptome assembly, to update more than half of annotated genes and to identify many novel genes and different alternatively spliced isoforms. This study provides new insights on the flowering cycle in an Asteraceae plant, a valuable resource for plant biology and breeding in Cynara and an effective method for improving gene annotation.

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Edible flowers as functional food: A review on artichoke (Cynara cardunculus L.)

Cited by 73 publications

References 63 publications

Seasonal variation of bioactive properties and phenolic composition of Cynara cardunculus var. altilis

Seasonal variation of bioactive properties and phenolic composition of Cynara cardunculus var. altilis

The Biodiversity of Edible Flowers: Discovering New Tastes and New Health Benefits

Hybrid transcriptome sequencing approach improved assembly and gene annotation in Cynara cardunculus (L.)

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