Presented by Dr. Courtney Leisner, Assistant Professor, Auburn University
Iridoids are present in over 15 plant families and are potent natural products with a wide range of biological activities in humans including, anticancer, antibacterial and anti-inflammatory. Previous work has identified monotropein, an iridoid glycoside compound, in several wild Vaccinium species, as well as American cranberry (V. macrocarpon), but limited work has been done to identify this compound in cultivated North American blueberry species (V. corybosum, V. angustifolium, V. virgatum). Currently, we have identified the glycoside iridoid monotropein in 5 of the 71 cultivars included in a Vaccinium diversity panel, indicating that the presence of iridoid compounds is determined by the specific ecotype and pedigree of a given cultivar. We have generated both metabolite and transcriptomic data to identify key iridoid biosynthetic pathway genes to increase understanding of iridoid biosynthesis in blueberry for future breeding efforts.
