ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Plant Sci.
Sec. Plant Systematics and Evolution
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpls.2025.1618572
Biochemical Diversity in Allium Species: Key Metabolite Profiles for Breeding and Bioprospecting
Provisionally accepted
- 1Directorate of Onion and Garlic Research (ICAR), Pune, India
- 2Savitribai Phule Pune University, Pune, Maharashtra, India
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The genus Allium encompasses a diverse range of species, including cultivated, wild, and underutilized varieties, each exhibiting significant biochemical diversity. This study aims to comprehensively analyze the phytochemical composition and biochemical variability in 19 Allium germplasm representing 16 species, focusing on key bioactive compounds such as flavonoids, phenolics, sulfur-containing compounds, and sugars. Biochemical profiling was conducted using standard assays to determine antioxidant activity, thiosulfinate content, pyruvic acid levels, and sugar composition. The results revealed substantial variations across species, with average allicin/thiosulphinates content ranging from 5.33 to 26.12 µmol/g FW, total flavonoid content from 10.42 to 48.42 mg/100 g FW, and total phenolic content from 7.76 to 21.00 mg/100 g FW. The highest antioxidant activity (DPPH assay) was 6.05 µmol/g FW, while total sugar levels ranged from 0.51 to 8.79 g/100 g FW. Hierarchical clustering analysis grouped the Allium species into two major clusters, with Cluster 1 (domesticated species) containing 10 accessions and Cluster 2 (wild and underutilized species) containing 9 accessions. The clustering pattern was primarily driven by allicin content, pyruvic acid levels, flavonoid content, and antioxidant activity, with wild species exhibiting significantly higher concentrations of bioactive metabolites compared to cultivated varieties. Principal component analysis (PCA) explained 66.1% of the total biochemical variance, with PC1 contributing 38.5% and PC2 contributing 27.6%, effectively differentiating species based on metabolic composition. The strongest positive correlations were observed between total flavonoid content and antioxidant activity (r = 0.91, p < 0.001), total phenolic content and allicin (r = 0.87, p < 0.001), and total pyruvic acid and enzymatically produced pyruvic acid (r = 0.93, p < 0.001), indicating potential co-regulation of these biochemical pathways. This study underscores the significance of biochemical characterization in understanding Allium species' nutritional and medicinal potential. The findings offer valuable insights for breeding programs, functional food development, and pharmaceutical applications, with implications for selecting superior Allium genotypes with enhanced bioactive properties.
Keywords: Phytochemical screening, Cluster analysis, thiosulphinates content, antioxidant activity, Allium species
Received: 26 Apr 2025; Accepted: 09 Sep 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Benke, Mokat and Mahajan. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Ashwini Benke, Directorate of Onion and Garlic Research (ICAR), Pune, India
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