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Title: Variation of L-DOPA in the leaf and flower tissues of seven faba bean accessions with different flower colors.

Author
item Hu, Jinguo
item Kwon, Soon
item PARK, JJ - Washington State University
item MATTINSON, DS - Washington State University
item LANDRY, EJ - Washington State University
item GANG, DR - Washington State University

Submitted to: Proceedings Assoc for Advancement of Industrial Crops (AAIC) Annual Meeting
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 10/15/2012
Publication Date: 11/12/2012
Citation: Hu, J., Kwon, S.J., Park, J., Mattinson, D., Landry, E., Gang, D. 2012. Variation of L-DOPA in the leaf and flower tissues of seven faba bean accessions with different flower colors.. Proceedings Assoc for Advancement of Industrial Crops (AAIC) Annual Meeting. Novemver12-15, 2012.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Faba bean (Vicia faba L.) has been selected to adapt to a wide range of environments worldwide and is grown for different end-uses such as food, feed, forage and green manure. Particularly noteworthy in faba bean is the medicinally important component L-3,4-dihydroxy phenylalanine (L-DOPA), the major ingredient in medicines used to treat Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients. L-DOPA can cross the blood-brain barrier into the brain where it is converted to dopamine, a monoamine neurotransmitter. It has been reported that L-DOPA is present in several tissues of faba bean. Although synthetic L-DOPA has been playing a major role in PD treatment, it is documented that the anti-PD effects of faba bean is superior to those of synthetic L-DOPA and considerably more lasting. Therefore, faba bean may be used as a crop for molecular pharming of natural L-DOPA. The objective of this preliminary study was to examine the variation of L-DOPA concentration in the leaf and flower tissues of seven faba bean accessions with various flower colors.Leaf and flower samples were taken from field grown plants with different flower colors, namely, pink with purple lines and black dot, white with a black dot, pure white, brown, and crimson. Samples were freeze-dried and L-DOPA was quantified by an ACQUITY UPLC system with a HSS T3 column. MS analysis was performed on an inline Synapt G2 HDMS time-of-flight mass spectrometer. Very little variation of L-DOPA concentration was observed in both flower and leaf tissues within an accession. However, the difference between the seven accessions was significant. The average L-DOPA concentration in flowers ranged from 27.8 to 63.5 mg/g-DW (dry weight) and that in leaf tissues ranged from 18.2 to 48.7 mg/g DW. There was no significant correlation between L-DOPA concentrations in flowers and leaves. The accession with crimson colored flowers had the highest L-DOPA concentration (63.5 mg/g) in flowers but low levels (20.5 mg/g) in leaves. The accession with brown-colored flowers had high L-DOPA concentrations in both flowers (55.7 mg/g) and leaves (48.7 mg/g). Our study revealed a high level of variation of L-DOPA concentration in the leaf and flower tissues among the seven faba bean accessions studied. Further investigation is needed to elucidate the genetic basis of this useful trait.