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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Plant Sci.

Sec. Functional Plant Ecology

Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpls.2025.1635867

This article is part of the Research TopicPlant-Based Solutions for Sustainable Agriculture and Environmental RemediationView all 4 articles

Phytochemical Richness, Antioxidant Activity, and Molecular Diversity in Papaver Species from Iran's Western and Central Regions

Provisionally accepted
Nasser NazariNasser Nazari1Fariba SharifniaFariba Sharifnia1*Fahimah SalimpourFahimah Salimpour1Mohammad MehrniaMohammad Mehrnia2Afshanah GraanAfshanah Graan3Mehrdad ZarafsharMehrdad Zarafshar4
  • 1Islamic Azad University System, Tehran, Tehran, Iran
  • 2Agricultural Research, Education and Extension Organization (AREEO), Tehran, Alborz, Iran
  • 3Universidade Federal de Lavras, Lavras, Brazil
  • 4Faculty of Technology, Department of forestry and wood technology, Linnaeus university, Växjö, Sweden

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This study examined the phytochemical diversity, antioxidant capacity, and genetic relationships among Papaver species collected from western and central Iran. Significant interspecific and regional variation was observed in total phenolic and flavonoid contents, with P. hybridum from Khuzestan showing the highest phenolic (50.26 mg GAE/g DW) and antioxidant activity (DPPH: 70.40%, FRAP: 6.91 µmol Fe²⁺/g DW). P. macrostomum and P. dubium also exhibited notable flavonoid and anthocyanin levels, respectively. Codeine content peaked in P. hybridum, while papaverine was highest in P. dubium. Antioxidant traits correlated strongly with phenolic content and environmental variables such as humidity and elevation. PCA revealed clustering of antioxidant traits, while alkaloids and anthocyanins formed distinct patterns. Phylogenetic analysis indicated complex evolutionary relationships and possible introgression among species. These findings highlight substantial phytochemical and genetic variation shaped by local environments. As this study focuses on Iranian populations, broader geographic sampling is needed to generalize the patterns observed.

Keywords: Author contribution Nasser Nazari: Conceptualization, methodology, Validation, investigation, Data curation, writing the original draft. Fariba Sharifnia: Writing, review & editing, project administration

Received: 27 May 2025; Accepted: 28 Jul 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 Nazari, Sharifnia, Salimpour, Mehrnia, Graan and Zarafshar. 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: Fariba Sharifnia, Islamic Azad University System, Tehran, Tehran, Iran

Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

Supplementary Material