Morphological, chemical and genetic differentiation of two subspecies of Cistus creticus L. (C. creticus subsp. eriocephalus and C. creticus subsp. corsicus).
Cistus creticus L., an aromatic species from the Mediterranean area, contains various diterpenes bearing the labdane skeleton. The production of essential oil from this species has potential economic value, but so far, it has not been optimized. In order to contribute to a better knowledge of this species and to its differentiation, the morphological characters, volatile chemical composition and genetic data of two subspecies (C. creticus subsp. eriocephalus and C. creticus subsp. corsicus) were investigated. The leaf trichomes were studied using scanning electron microscopy. The chemical composition of Corsican essential oil (C. creticus subsp. corsicus) has been reported using GC, GC/MS and 13C NMR; the main constituents were oxygenated labdane diterpenes (33.9%) such as 13-epi-manoyl oxide (18.5%). Using plant material (54 samples) collected from 18 geographically distinct areas of the islands of Corsica and Sardinia, the basis of variation in the headspace solid-phase microextraction volatile fraction and an inter-simple sequence repeat genetic analysis were also examined. It was shown that the two subspecies of C. creticus differed in morphology, essential oil production, volatile fraction composition and genetic data.
Paolini
Julien
J
UMR-CNRS 6134 SPE, Université de Corse, Laboratoire Chimie des Produits Naturels, 20250 Corti, France. Electronic address: paolini@univ-corse.fr.
Falchi
Alessandra
A
INSERM, U707, 75012 Paris, France.
Quilichini
Yann
Y
UMR-CNRS 6134 SPE, Université de Corse, Service d'Etude et de Recherche en Microscopie Electronique, 20250 Corti, France.
Desjobert
Jean-Marie
JM
UMR-CNRS 6134 SPE, Université de Corse, Laboratoire Chimie des Produits Naturels, 20250 Corti, France.
Cian
Marie-Cecile De
MC
UMR-CNRS 6134 SPE, Université de Corse, Laboratoire de Génétique Moléculaire, 20250 Corti, France.
Varesi
Laurent
L
UMR-CNRS 6134 SPE, Université de Corse, Laboratoire de Génétique Moléculaire, 20250 Corti, France.
Costa
Jean
J
UMR-CNRS 6134 SPE, Université de Corse, Laboratoire Chimie des Produits Naturels, 20250 Corti, France.
D001483:Base Sequence; D029758:Cistus / Q000235:genetics*; D004224:Diterpenes / Q000737:chemistry*; D008401:Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry; D015394:Molecular Structure; D019906:Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, Biomolecular; D018515:Plant Leaves / Q000235:genetics; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic
D004224:Diterpenes