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Rare and interesting Canary Islands violets and their cyclotides

The Canary Islands are a popular holiday destination, but due to the unique flora, they are also very interesting from a scientific point of view. The journal Scientific Reports published an article (see below) resulting from a scientific visit by Dr. Błażej Ślązak to the Canary Islands, financed by the Regnells Foundation (Regnells Stiftelse för Botaniskt Resestipendium), and cooperation between scientists from the Institute of Botany PAS, Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (Canary Islands, Spain) and Uppsala University (Sweden). The article focuses on rare, endemic violets from the Canary Islands and cyclotides – chemical compounds produced by these plants. The studied violets – Viola anagae, V. palmensis, V. cheiranthifolia and V. odorata – occur in very different environments, from subtropical laurel forests to the top of the Teide volcano. The article describes the diversity of cyclotides produced by violets and the potential role of these compounds in the adaptation of plants to their environment. Mass spectrometric methods have been proposed to relate cyclotide production patterns to specific species of violets while showing that these patterns can be used as highly sensitive chemotaxonomic markers for species identification.

Slazak B., Kaltenböck K., Steffen K., Rogala M., Rodríguez-Rodríguez P., Nilsson A., Shariatgorji R., Andrén P.E., Göransson U. 2021. Cyclotide host-defense tailored for species and environments in violets from the Canary Islands. Scientific Reports 11: 12452. DOI

A small plant with light purple flowers on a brown rocky ground

V. cheiranthifolia growing at an altitude of approx. 3000 m, on the slopes of Teide volcano (Tenerife).
Photo: B. Ślązak.

A small plant with light purple flowers growing against the wall of a building on rocky ground

V. cheiranthifolia growing by the building of the terminus of the cable car on Teide volcano (Tenerife).
Photo: B. Ślązak.

A rugged, almost plant-free mountainous landscape dominated by the conical silhouette of a volcano

Teide volcano (Tenerife).
Photo: B. Ślązak.

A view from high above of dark rocky mountains, a distant valley and a sea covered with white clouds. Blue sky above

Gran Canaria.
Photo: B. Ślązak.

A view from high above the valley covered with white clouds. Dark, rocky peaks protrude above the clouds. Blue sky above

View of the Caldera de Taburiente National Park (La Palma) – the habitat of V. palmensis.
Photo: B. Ślązak.

A magnificent clump of bright purple flowers

V. palmensis, Caldera de Taburiente National Park (La Palma).
Photo: B. Ślązak.

A small plant with purple flowers growing between rocks in bare, brown soil

V. palmensis, Caldera de Taburiente National Park (La Palma).
Photo: B. Ślązak.

A view from high above of several mountain ranges lying one behind the other. In the foreground, sparse shrubby vegetation

View of Teide volcano from the Anaga Rural Park (Tenerife) – the habitat of V. anagae.
Photo: B. Ślązak.

A carpet of vivid green, heart-shaped leaves between the trees

V. anagae, Anaga Rural Park (Tenerife).
Photo: B. Ślązak.

Diagram of a molecule with a structure resembling a tangled thread or knot

The structure of an example cyclotide – cycloviolacin O2.
Figure: B. Ślązak.