Using RAPD markers to predict polyphenol content in aerial parts of Echinacea purpurea plants

BACKGROUND: Echinacea purpurea (L.) Moench is in increasing demand worldwide owing to its medicinal value, resulting from the combined effects of several phytochemicals. In the present study, the polymerase chain reaction-amplified randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers generated from 45 pre-selected primers were used to predict the contents of total phenol, caffeoyl phenol and alkamide⁸ ⁺ ⁹ (alkamide 8+ alkamide 9) in aerial parts of 70 E. purpurea accessions through stepwise regression analysis. The contents of these phytochemicals were also analyzed chemically.RESULTS: In the first trial, 16 polymorphic fragments generated by pre-selected RAPD primers showed significant correlations with the examined phytochemical traits in 59 accessions. Phytochemical traits in leaves and florets of another 11 accessions were further analyzed chemically, and the data were compared to the phytochemical data predicted using the regression equations derived from first trial. Statistical analyses revealed significant correlations in total phenol level between predicted and actual values for leaves and florets in these 11 accessions.CONCLUSION: RAPD markers coupled with stepwise regression analysis can be considered as an initial screening method for identifying E. purpurea accessions with high total phenol content in aerial parts of the plants prior to assessing their agronomic performance in the field.