Abstract:

Chemical analysis is increasingly important for Plant Sciences. Determining concentrations of specific chemical compounds with biological importance, as well as metabolomics studies, are essential to understand the biology of plants. Therefore, a Master degree in Plant Sciences should provide students with the competence to use advanced instrumental techniques for chemical analysis. Our Institute offers a Plant Breeding Master, in which several subjects require the support of chemical analysis. For example, the “Breeding for quality” largely relies on the ability to analyze important traits for the quality of plant produces. For a suitable learning process, it is mandatory that the theoretical knowledge given in class is put into practice in practical lessons. Therefore, the knowledge of advanced analytical techniques is key for a precise evaluation of the main families of bioactive compounds in order to have an efficient breeding process for many quality traits. One issue that is having an increasing attention is the genetic improvement of bioactive compounds. In this paper we propose the introduction of a high-technology practical session in the mandatory subject “Instrumental Techniques”: the analysis of the content in antioxidant phenolic acids, in particular chlorogenic acid, using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The materials used correspond to eggplant and related species, for which there is a large variation in phenolic acids. The practical lesson devised requires six hours divided into two sessions and includes the different steps of the analysis, including the preparation of the sample, extraction, establishment of a calibration curve, programming the HPLC module, and interpreting the results. It also includes the evaluation of technical problems that may appear during the process. This practical session allows students to acquire the competence for the use of a high-technology chemical analysis system (HPLC) as well as to interpret the results and deal with real problems that they can learn how to fix. In summary, with this HPLC practical session our Plant Breeding Master students may enhance their competence for chemical analysis for compounds that are of interest for developing improved cultivars. This practical session can be modified to analyze other compounds of interest in plant biology and should be transferable to other Master studies in the field of Plant Sciences for improving the competence of students in chemical analysis.

Keywords:

Master studies, HPLC, phenolics, practical session, plant breeding, competences.