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Phytochemical Fingerprinting of Cannabinoids and Investigation of Genetic Diversity, Genome Structure and Genome Association of Iranian Cannabis Resources Toward Breeding Programs Improvement
Mahboubeh Mostafaei Dehnavi, Post Doctoral Research, Plant Sciences, UC Davis
Cannabis, both marijuana and fibre types, is a globally important plant that has significant pharmaceutical and industrial potential, and is expected to become a significant commercial crop with unprecedented market growth potential. Unraveling the chemical and genomic parameters of natural populations can help identify sources of chemistry and genetic diversity. Iran is a rich resource of natural populations promising to characterize historical patterns of chemistry, genetic diversity as well as population structure within cannabis. To establish a cannabis breeding program, our research as a first survey provides a deep insight into two main cannabinoids (THC and CBD) profile as well as genome survey of this natural cannabis collection. The results of our study showed distinct chemical phenotypes of THC-predominant, approximately equal proportions of THC and CBD and CBD-predominant which may increase the capacity of commercialization and medical industries. We defined Iranian cannabis in two main clusters using the results of the PCA. PCA of combined genetic global data and Iranian cannabis data and cluster dendrogram indicated that Iranian samples are more closely related to marijuana than hemp. Additionally, the genome wide association study of identified SNPs for some unique phenotypes like sex and cannabinoid content revealed significant SNPs associated with these traits. The association analysis suggests that sex in cannabis is not just related to sex chromosome and THC and CBD content are not just limited to cannabinoid synthase gene cluster suggesting that other non-cannabinoid synthase-related loci contribute to cannabinoid yield and type. The results of this study provide a host of variation on which to start a breeding program towards medicinal and industrial purposes.