Unit of Bioactive compounds in cell cultures and plant stress physiology
Lab of of Pharmaceutical Botany and Plant Stress Physiology
tel. +051 2091317/1291
fax +051 242576
Group Leader: FERRUCCIO POLI and STEFANIA BIONDI
E-mail : ferruccio.poli@unibo.it; stefania.biondi@unibo.it
Research in progress :
- The group is involved in several lines of research focusing on physiological responses to abiotic stress, including secondary metabolite production, hormonal control of growth and development, the application of in vitro cultures for the production of compounds having a pharmaceutical/nutraceutical interest, and ethnobotanical studies relative to medicinal plants.
- (1) - Production of bioactive compounds from higher plants cultured in vitro. This research deals with the establishment of in vitro cell or tissue cultures of plants producing bioactive compounds of pharmaceutical and/or nutraceutical interest in order to study the relative metabolic pathways (enzyme activities and gene expression), and to investigate physical and chemical factors able to enhance product yield. Biological activities of extracts is determined.
- (2) - Ethnobotanical studies on traditional medicinal plants from Italy, India and Africa. These are based on the acquisition of information regarding the use of such plants by local populations, plant collection in situ and correct identification. Phytochemical analyses are performed to identify the bioactive molecules responsible for biological activities. Identification of titration markers for quality control of commercial products, evaluation of biological activity in relation to the titration marker, and histological analyses to check for possible adulteration are also performed.
- (3) - Quinoa: salt stress and nutraceutical properties. The project, conducted in collaboration with Chile, Argentina and Mali, explores the physiological responses of Quinoa plants to salt stress. The aim of this project is to study basic physiological mechanisms underlying the response to salinity of quinoa, such as polyamine metabolism in plants artificially exposed to salt stress. The different isoforms of tocopherols (vitamin E), combined with antioxidant activity, are analyzed in seeds and leaves of different ecotypes under salt stress.
- (4) - Heavy metal stress responses in poplar. This line of research deals with the effect of heavy metals on different species and genotypes of Populus, and is aimed at assessing their tolerance and capacity for metal accumulation. Experiments are performed both in vitro and in vivo (field and greenhouse) in order to investigate the effect of Cu and Zn on growth, morphogenesis, endogenous hormone production (polyamines and ethylene), expression of metallothionein genes, and secondary metabolism. These parameters are evaluated also in relation to the interaction between plants and soil microrganisms.
- (5) - Plant hormones in the control of in vitro morphogenesis. The activity of jasmonates on in-vitro morphogenesis from cultured explants, and their interaction with other plant growth regulators (polyamines, auxin) is studied. The role of auxin is investigated in tobacco plants over-expressing genes encoding for the Aux/IAA family of transcription factors.
- (6) - Legume crops as natural sources of melatonin. The principal aims of the project are to evaluate the potentialities of some legume crops as source of phytoestrogens and melatonin, and to evaluate the effects of abiotic and biotic stress factors on the production of these natural compounds.The effects of exogenously supplied melatonin on plant growth and development are. also investigated.
Funding :
- MIUR (PRIN 2005-2007) “Metallotioneine e poliammine nella risposta a rame e zinco in cloni di pioppo tolleranti i metalli pesanti: profili d’espressione genica e relazioni con lo stress ossidativo”
- MIUR (PRIN 2003-2005) "Metallotioneine e poliammine come potenziali biomarcatori della tolleranza a metalli pesanti in vitro e in vivo in genotipi di pioppo".
- Cannamela srl "Quality control of spices".
- Bonomelli srl "Quality control of chamomile”.
- Coop Italia “Literature survey on herbal products”.
- Istituto di Ricerche Biotecnologiche srl “Secondary metabolites from plant cell cultures”.
- Università di Bologna, Progetto Strategico d’Ateneo (2007) “Leguminose come fonti naturali di fitoestrogeni e melatonina in funzione di inputs produttivi innovativi e sostenibili” (LeFEM).
- ICGEB-TWAS Joint Plant Biotechnology Programme (2007-2009) “Tolerance strategies of Quinoa plants under salt stress”.
Patents :
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Selected Publications :
- Antognoni F., Bagni N. 2008 Bis(guanylhydrazones) negatively affect in vitro germination of kiwifruit pollen and alter the endogenous polyamine pool Plant Biol. 10, 334-341
- Scartezzini P., Antognoni F., Raggi M.A., Poli F., Sabbioni C. 2006 Vitamin C content and antioxidant activity of the fruit and of the ayurvedic preparation of Emblica officinalis Gaertn. J. Ethnopharmacol. 104, 113-118.
- Biondi, S, Antognoni F, Crespi-Perellino N, Minghetti A, Sacchetti G, Poli F. 2004 Auxin, casein hydrolysate, and methyl jasmonate influence the amount and spectrum of secondary metabolites in callus cultures of Zanthoxylum stenophyllum Hemsl. Plant Biosys. 138: 117-124
- Poli F, Appendino G. Sacchetti G. Ballero M. Maggiano N. F.O. Rannelleti. 2004 Antiproliferative effects of daucane esters from Ferula communis and Ferula arrigoni on human colon cancer cell lines. Phytotherapy Res. 18:220-231
- F. Poli, M. Muzzoli, G. Sacchetti, G. Tassinato, R. Lazzarin, A. Bruni . 2003 Antioxidant activity of supercritical CO2 extracts of Helichrysum italicum (Roth) Don (Asteraceae). Pharm Biol. 41:379-383
- Poli F, Sacchetti G, Tosi B, Fogagnolo M, Chillemi G, Lazzarin R, Bruni A. 2002 Variation in the content of the main guaianolides and sugar in Cichorium intybus var. “Rosso di Chioggia” selections during cultivation. Food Chem. 76:139-147
- Biondi S, Scaramagli S,Oksman-Caldentey K, Poli F. 2002 Secondary metabolim in root and callus cultures of Hyoscyamus muticus L.: the relationship between morphological organization and response to methyl jasmonate. Plant Sci. 163:563-569
- FAUDALE M., VILADOMAT F., BASTIDA J., POLI F. CODINA C. (2008) Antioxidant activity and total flavonoid and phenolic contents in wild, edible and medicinal fennel from different Mediterranean countries. J. of Agricoltural and Food Chemistry. 56, 1912-1920.
- Antognoni F., Faudale M., Poli F., Biondi S. (2008) Methyl jasmonate differentially affects tocopherol content and tyrosine amino transferase activity in Amaranthus caudatus and Chenopodium quinoa cultured cells. Plant Biol. (in press)
- Castiglione S., Franchin C., Fossati T., Lingua G., Torrigiani P., Biondi S. (2007) High zinc concentrations reduce rooting capacity and alter metallothionein gene expression in white poplar (Populus alba cv. Villafranca). Chemosphere 67: 1117-1126.
- Scartezzini P., Antognoni F., Conte L., Maxia A., Troìa A., Poli F. (2007) Genetic and phytochemical difference between some Indian and Italian plants of Withania somnifera (L.) “Dunal”. Natural Product Research 21: 923-932.
- Monti M., Pinotti M., Appendino G., Dall’Occhio F., Bellini T., Antognoni F., Poli F., Bernardi F. (2007) Characterization of anti-coagulant properties of the prenylated coumarin ferulenol. Biochim. Biophys. Acta 1770: 1437-1440.
- Antognoni F., Zheng S-P., Pagnucco C., Baraldi R., Poli F., Biondi S. (2007) Induction of flavonoid production by UV-B radiation in Passiflora quadrangularis tissue culture. Fitoterapia 78: 345-352
- Franchin C., Fossati T., Pasquini E., Lingua G., Castiglione S., Torrigiani P., Biondi S. (2007) High concentrations of Zn and Cu induce differential polyamine responses in micropropagated white poplar (Populus alba L. Villafranca). Physiol. Plant 130: 77- 90
- Goossens A., Häkkinen S.T., Laakso I., Seppänen-Laakso T., Biondi S., De Sutter V., Lammertyn F., Nuutila A.M., Söderlund H., Zabeau M., Inzé D., Oksman-Caldentey K.-M. (2003) A functional genomics approach toward the understanding of secondary metabolism in plant cells. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., USA 100: 8595-8600
- Falasca G., Capitani F., Della Rovere F., Zaghi D., Franchin C., Biondi S., Altamura M.M. (2008) Oligogalacturonides enhance cytokinin-induced vegetative shoot formation in tobacco explants, inhibit polyamine biosynthetic gene expression, and promote long-term remobilisation of cell calcium. Planta 227: 835-852.
Postgraduate training :
- PhD in Pharmacology and Toxicology
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Collaborations :
-Molecular biology and transgenic plants : Dr. Alain Goossens, VIB, Gent, Belgium
-Secondary metabolism in cell cultures : Dr. K-M Oksman-Caldentey, VTT Biotechnology, Finland
-Quinoa and salt stress : Dr. Andres Zurita Silva, Center for Advanced Studies in Arid Zones (CEAZA), La Serena, Chile
-Jasmonates in growth and development : Prof. Maria Maddalena Altamura, Dip. Biologia Vegetale, Università di Roma La Sapienza
-Phytoremediation with poplar : Dr. Stefano Castiglione, Dip. Chimica, Università di Salerno, Italy; Prof. Graziella Berta, Università del Piemonte Orientale, Alessandria, Italy
-Auxin-regulated genes : Prof. Livio Trainotti, Università di Padova, Italy
-Bioactive compounds in medicinal plants from Equador : Prof. A. Bruni , Prof. Sacchetti G. and Prof. A. Medici, Università di Ferrara, Italy
-Medicinal plants from Sardinia : Prof M. Serafini and Prof. A. Bianco , Università di Roma La Sapienza; Prof M. Ballero, Università di Cagliari, Italy
-Phytochemical analysis of medicinal plants from the Mediterranean area : Prof. Carles Codina, University of Barcelona, Spain
Links :
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Research group :
FABIANA ANTOGNONI Research Associate
PAOLO SCARTEZZINI Post doc
FERRUCCIO POLI Full professor
STEFANIA BIONDI associate Professor
PASCAL NADEMBENGA PhD student
