Postdoctoral research

Research on Adriatic immortelle is important for its cultivation in the herbal industry

At the University of Primorska, we are implementing a postdoctoral project by Alenka Baruca Arbeiter PhD entitled: The Potential of Adriatic Immortelle (Helichrysum italicum (Roth) G. Don): Comprehensive Genome and Transcriptome Profiling for Gene discovery in Biosynthesis of Plant Natural Products. The financier is the Public Agency of the Republic of Slovenia for Research (ARRS). The project started on July 1, 2019, and will run for two years. Immortelle is a relatively new plant both in agricultural production and in the cosmetics and pharmaceutical industries. The project aims to determine the precise identification and characterization of plants at the level of genomes and transcripts, which are crucial for further study of bioactive molecules and their use in the pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries and to ensure product quality and stability. Authentication of medicinal plants is also essential to prevent counterfeiting in the herbal industry. Despite various documented biological traits and high economic importance, very little genomic and transcriptomic data have been documented for this plant, which prevents studies of phytocompound biosynthetic pathways, distinguishing between naturally growing and cultivated ecotypes, and identifying the most promising genotypes for cultivation and revision subtypes.

Source: https://www.famnit.upr.si/sl/raziskovanje/programi-in-projekti/Z4-1875, 29. 7. 2020.