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Review article2023Peer reviewedOpen access

The Systematics, Reproductive Biology, Biochemistry, and Breeding of Sea Buckthorn—A Review

Nybom, Hilde; Ruan, Chengjiang; Rumpunen, Kimmo

Abstract

Both the fruit flesh and seeds of sea buckthorn have multiple uses for medicinal and culinary purposes, including the valuable market for supplementary health foods. Bioactive compounds, such as essential amino acids, vitamins B, C, and E, carotenoids, polyphenols, ursolic acid, unsaturated fatty acids, and other active substances, are now being analyzed in detail for their medicinal properties. Domestication with commercial orchards and processing plants is undertaken in many countries, but there is a large need for improved plant material with high yield, tolerance to environmental stress, diseases, and pests, suitability for efficient harvesting methods, and high contents of compounds that have medicinal and/or culinary values. Applied breeding is based mainly on directed crosses between different subspecies of Hippophae rhamnoides. DNA markers have been applied to analyses of systematics and population genetics as well as for the discrimination of cultivars, but very few DNA markers have as yet been developed for use in selection and breeding. Several key genes in important metabolic pathways have, however, been identified, and four genomes have recently been sequenced.

Keywords

Hippophae; chemical contents; cultivar development; DNA markers; genetics; medicinal plant; systematics

Published in

Genes
2023, Volume: 14, number: 12, article number: 2120

      SLU Authors

    • Associated SLU-program

      SLU Plant Protection Network

      UKÄ Subject classification

      Genetics
      Horticulture

      Publication identifier

      DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/genes14122120

      Permanent link to this page (URI)

      https://res.slu.se/id/publ/126960