Seed fatty acid compositions and chemotaxonomy of wild Crambe (Brassicaceae) taxa in Turkey

Abstract

Wild Crambe species have greater potential than Crambe hispanica in industry, medicine, as a vegetable, etc. A total of 53 germplasm accessions, belonging to 7 taxa, were collected from the natural flora of Turkey. The accessions consisted of C. orientalisvar. orientalis (18 accessions), C. orientalis var. dasycarpa (1 accession), C. orientalis var. sulphurea (2 accessions), C.tataria var. aspera(3 accessions), C. tataria var. tataria (26 accessions), C. grandiflora (1 accession), C. orientalis var. sulphurea, and C. maritima (2 accessions). In this study, the seed fatty acid compositions and oil contents were determined, and the data were used for taxonomic cluster, correlation, and principal component analyses. Important correlations were determined among the fatty acids; however, the oil contents were not correlated. Altitude was positively correlated with linolenic acid, while negatively correlated with oleic and linoleic acid. For the principal component and correlation analyses, 7 major fatty acids (>1%) were used, including palmitic (C16:0), oleic (C18:1), linoleic (C18:2), cis-11 eicosenoic (20:1), linolenic (C18:3), erucic (C22:1), and nervonic acid (C24:1). A total of 17 fatty acids were used for the cluster analyses. Two major clusters were formed, where the first consisted of C. orientalis, C. tataria, and C. grandiflorataxa, while the second consisted of only C. maritima taxa. The dendrogram based on the fatty acid values clearly discriminated the species groups; however, C. tataria was not located close to C. maritima, contrary to previous molecular cluster studies.