Chemical composition and phenolic compounds profile of cladodes from Opuntia spp. cultivars with different domestication gradient

• Opuntia cladodes from different species/varieties were analyzed.
• Three principal components defined the cladode Opuntia characteristics.
• O. ficus-indica did not correlate with the reported domestication gradient.
• New phenolic compounds were detected in Opuntia cladodes.
• Opuntia, a good fiber source, might also meet daily dietary requirements of K, Ca, Mn.

The Opuntia genus, whose origin is in Mexico where several species grow wild, is taxonomically diverse and has become an important crop worldwide. The aim of this work was to assess the molecular composition of five Opuntia species and three different varieties of each taxonomically identified species with different domestication gradients (from the wildest to the most domesticated O. ficus-indica). Data were subjected to chemometric evaluation using principal component analysis (PCA), which showed that O. ficus-indica seems to fall far outside of the current domestication gradient that has been proposed, and its ancestor is still unclear. Phenolic compounds showed major (eucomic acid, kaempferol 3-O-robinobioside-7-O-arabinofuranoside, isorhamnetin 3-O-galactoside, and isorhamnetin 3-O-rhamnoside-7-O-(rhamnosyl-hexoside)) and minor compounds that were present only in wild (kaempferol 3-O-arabinofuranoside) or domesticated (quercetin 3-O-rhamnosyl-(1→2)-[rhamnosyl-(1→6)]-glucoside) species. This information could be very useful for authentication of Opuntia species and the identification of species with the highest potential as sources of compounds with nutritional and therapeutic properties.