Therapeutic uses of legume crops in Subtropical South America

FORTUNATO, R.H.

Edinburgh

Conferencia; 2nd World congress on Advanced Nutraceuticals and Functional Foods; 2020

PULSUS Conference

The Argentine flora comprises more than 10,000 species, and many of them have been recorded as having medicinal, antimicrobial, andnutraceutical uses in humans as well as veterinary uses. Some native species/populations from the north of Argentina have been identified, selected,and characterized using morphological, chemical, and molecular techniques. Bauhinia forficata subsp. pruinosa was found to have anti-inflammatory,antidiabetic, diuretic, and analgesic activity, Senna spectabilis var. spectabilis has been found to have antibacterial, antibiofilm, antifungal, andantioxidant properties and Peltophorum dubium was analyzed showing laxative, digestive, hepatoprotective, astringent effects and antimicrobialactivity. The characterization and conservation of the native germplasm will allow us to propose future protocols of adaptation and technologicalprocesses to improve the quality of life in the rural areas and sustainable growth. This process will be achieved through a future integral andrational use that contemplates the conservation of the wild populations and their habitat. Thus, new resources will be generated, and the nativeflora of the country will gain value, strengthening the regional and territorial development of the agricultural and agroindustrial system. In addition,the domestication practices oriented to an integral management of the crop without extraction of the biological resource from the natural habitatminimize the impact of ecosystem degradation by over exploitation associated with landscape fragmentation. In the age of big data, gene editing,and Next Generation Sequencing (NGS), it has the opportunity to document the transition from wild plant to crop. NGS provides a powerful toolfor discovery of domestication genes in crop plants and their wild relatives. This strategy has allowed proposing plans and technological processesto improve the quality of life in rural territories and to support sustainable growth of wild plant populations and their ecosystem.