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Rare varieties of violets

Dr. Błażej Ślązak from the PAS Institute of Botany together with an international team of scientists examined species of violets native to the Canary Islands. The researchers paid particular attention to cyclotides – cyclic peptides produced by plants. Their findings have been published in Nature’s Scientific Reports.

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V. cheiranthifolia growing at an altitude of approx. 3000 m, on the slopes of Teide volcano (Tenerife). Photo by B. Ślązak.

The studied species (Viola anagae, V. palmensis, V. cheiranthifolia and V. odorata) occur on the islands in very different environments – from subtropical forests to dry volcanic peaks. Scientists analyzed how the cyclotides produced by plants differ and what role they may play in adapting violets to their environment.

These compounds have insecticidal properties that help protect plants. The number of cyclotides differ depending on the species and the environment in which they grow. For instance, V. anagae from sub-tropical forests turned out to be the most diverse in this respect. Scientists identified 41 different peptides in this species. The lowest number of cyclotides was found in V. palmensis and V. cheiranthifolia from the Teide volcano – 25 and 26, respectively. The research exemplifies how plants tailor their host defense peptides for various habitats, and the usefulness of cyclotides as markers for chemosystematics.

Violets and their cyclic peptides were studied by scientists from the Institute of Botany of the Polish Academy of Sciences, University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (Canary Islands, Spain) and the University of Uppsala (Sweden).

Read the article „Cyclotide host-defense tailored for species and environments in violets from the Canary Islands”.

Source: Institute of Botany, Polish Academy of Sciences