Metabolic profiling of rhizomes of native populations of the strictly endemic Croatian species Iris adriatica

Abstract

which is 4 to 7 cm long. Tepals are usually of different shades of yellow and less frequent of violet or purple colour. The outer tepals have multicellular coloured hairs (so called "beard"). Plants bloom very early in the spring, in March and April. Its distribution area is limited to the Croatian part of the Mediterranean areacentral Dalmatia, the surroundings of the cities of Drniš, Unešić, Zadar, Šibenik and Split, as well as the nearby islands (e.g. Vir, Čiovo, Brač, Kornati etc.). Populations of I. adriatica are generally small, and in the past few years, some of them have disappeared or decreased. For this reason, I. adriatica belongs to the NT (near threatened) IUCN category in the Croatian Red Book of Vascular Plants (Nikolić 2017). However, the plant is suitable for cultivation in greenhouses and in vitro (Vršek et al. 2004; Kereša et al. 2009), and therefore, besides an ornamental use, it has a good perspective to become a useful medical plant, as it was shown for some other Iris taxa (Kukula-Koch et al. 2015; Venditti et al. 2017).

Phenolic compounds of Iris adriatica and their antimycobacterial effects

“…Additional HPCCC fractionation of F9-10 (60 mg) with n-hexane/EtAc-2-propanol/methanol/water (5:6:3:3.5:6, V/V) led to F-B (5.9 mg), a fraction rich in 2,4,6-trihydroxy-4-methoxy-benzophenone (ca. 90 %) as verified by LC-PDA-ESI-MS analysis (8), in 25-26 min.…”

“…Rhizomes of I. adriatica were collected at native sites in April 2016 (Table S1) and airdried for one month, followed by Soxhlet extraction of 261.5 g plant material with methanol (extraction yield 16.3 %). As plant material of endemic I. adriatica from its original habitats was not available in large amounts, in this study we also included a pure compound isolated from a commercial sample of Radix Iridis (which can include rhizomes originating from I. germanica, I. pallida or I. florentina (18), Kottas Pharma (Austria) based on the fact that this substance was also identified in I. adriatica (8).…”

“…Analysis was carried out according to a method recently published by our group (8). In short, a Dionex Ultimate 3000 RS LC system coupled to a LTQ XL linear ion-trap mass spectrometer equipped with an ESI ion source (all components Thermo Scientific) and a Zorbax SB-C18 Rapid Resolution HD column, 100 × 2.1 mm, 1.8 µm particle size (Agilent), were used.…”

“…Thus far, over 30 compounds have been isolated and identified from the rhizomes of I. adriatica (8,9). A detailed metabolic profiling of phenolic compounds of the rhizomes of native populations of I. adriatica was recently published by our group (8). Mainly phenolic compounds such as isoflavones are found in large numbers and quantities, followed by xanthones and benzophenones.…”

“…Irilone, another found isoflavone was reported to be antidiabetically active by inhibiting α-amylase and to be of phytoestrogenic nature when used in combination with red clover (10,11). Concerning xanthones, mangiferin and irisxanthone are heading the list (8). In literature, mangiferin is reported to possess analgesic, antidepressant, antidiabetic, antiinflammatory, antioxidant, antiproliferative, antiviral, diuretic and immunomodulatory properties (12,13).…”