Vanilla planifolia is an orchid of cultural and economic value. However, its cultivation in many tropical countries is threatened by water stress. In contrast, V. pompona is a species that is tolerant of prolonged periods of drought. Due to the need for plants’ resistant to water stress, the use of hybrids of these two species is considered. Therefore, the objective of this study was to evaluate the morphological and physio-chemical responses of in vitro vanilla seedlings of the parental genotype V. planifolia, and the hybrids V. planifolia × V. pompona and V. pompona × V. planifolia, which were then exposed over five weeks to polyethylene glycol-induced water stress (−0.49 mPa). Stem and root length, relative growth rate, number of leaves and roots, stomatal conductance, specific leaf area, and leaf water content were determined. Metabolites potentially associated with the response to water stress were identified in leaves, through untargeted and targeted metabolomics. Both hybrids exhibited a smaller decrease in the morphophysiological responses compared to V. planifolia and exhibited an enrichment of metabolites such as carbohydrates, amino acids, purines, phenols, and organic acids. Hybrids of these two species are considered as a potential alternative to the traditional cultivation of vanilla to face drought in a global warming scenario.

Orchids are a diverse group of plants, also manifested in their great diversity of flowers. Despite this, orchids are pollinated either through autogamy or allogamy (geitonogamy and xenogamy). Although there are some autogamous orchids, the majority are allogamous, mainly pollinated by xenogamy since they present physical or genetic barriers that prevent self-pollination. In addition, orchids are known for their capacity for interspecific pollination, which could influence fruits (metaxenia) and seeds (xenia) production. Its capacity for hybridization represents an opportunity to produce organisms tolerant to biotic or abiotic stress, in addition to exhibiting new shapes, colors and fragrances; this would be important in horticulture, where the proper selection of parents provides those advantages to the descendant hybrids. This review addresses the characteristics of each type of reproduction systems in orchids, as well as their advantages and disadvantages. At the same time, the study of the induction effect of metaxenia and xenia in this family is proposed. Finally, the production of orchid hybrids is contextualized and the opportunities of this approach in the near future.

Vanilla planifolia es la principal fuente vegetal de vainillina, saborizante de amplia importancia comercial. Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. vanillae, principal patógeno de V. planifolia, ha devastado cultivos enteros a nivel mundial. Vanilla pompona poseé resistencia a patógenos comunes del género. Variaciones climáticas extremas repercuten en las interacciones planta-patógeno. A partir del supuesto de que temperaturas superiores a 28 ºC intensifican la infectividad de F. oxysporum en vainilla, se determinó la influencia del incremento de la temperatura en la infectividad de F. oxysporum f. sp. vanillae (cepa M21C5) en V. planifolia y dos híbridos de V. planifolia x V. pompona. Se inocularon raíces de esquejes de V. planifolia y de los híbridos con suspensiones de esporas del hongo. Se midió el avance de la enfermedad durante 60 días a 25, 30 y 35 ºC. Se emplearon cinco réplicas por tratamiento, incluyendo un lote testigo. Se utilizó ANOVA post hoc Tukey (P = 0.05) para analizar los datos. V. planifolia fue suceptible a 35 °C y altamente suceptible a 25 y 30 °C. Ambos híbridos mostraron resistencia al patógeno en las temperaturas evaluadas. Por la resistencia mostrada, los híbridos de V. planifolia x V. pompona son una alternativa viable ante el patógeno.

El fruto de vainilla (Vanilla planifolia Andrews) genera una importante derrama económica; sin embargo, los frutos mejor pagados son aquellos de mayor longitud (tipo gourmet), por lo cual se necesitan estrategias que permitan obtener frutos de ese tipo. Ante ello, una opción es la inducción de metaxenia, entendida como el aumento de tamaño de los frutos a causa de la polinización con polen extranjero. Para el caso de la vainilla, se podría utilizar polen de V. pompona Schiede, ya que suele ser una especie acompañante y su fenología coincide con la de V. planifolia. Se realizaron polinizaciones cruzadas entre V. planifolia y V. pompona durante abril de 2021, se evaluó la longitud total, el diámetro, el peso y el índice de forma 40 días después. Se encontró influencia del polen extranjero, manifestada en frutos más largos y pesados si la flor de V. planifolia era polinizada con polen de V. pompona, mientras que si el polen extranjero era de V. planifolia en flores de V. pompona los frutos fueron más pequeños y livianos. La polinización cruzada entre V. planifolia con polen de V. pompona es una alternativa para los productores para que obtengan frutos de tipo gourmet con mayor facilidad.

The cloud forest (CF), a hugely biodiverse ecosystem, is a hotspot of unexplored plants with potential for discovering pharmacologically active compounds. Without sufficient ethnopharmacological information, developing strategies for rationally selecting plants for experimental studies is crucial. With this goal, a CF metabolites library was created, and a ligand-based virtual screening was conducted to identify molecules with potential hypoglycemic activity. From the most promising botanical families, plants were collected, methanolic extracts were prepared, and hypoglycemic activity was evaluated through in vitro enzyme inhibition assays on α-amylase, α-glucosidase, and dipeptidyl peptidase IV (DPP-IV). Metabolomic analyses were performed to identify the dominant metabolites in the species with the best inhibitory activity profile, and their affinity for the molecular targets was evaluated using ensemble molecular docking. This strategy led to the identification of twelve plants (in four botanical families) with hypoglycemic activity. Sida rhombifolia (Malvaceae) stood out for its DPP-IV selective inhibition versus S. glabra. A comparison of chemical profiles led to the annotation of twenty-seven metabolites over-accumulated in S. rhombifolia compared to S. glabra, among which acanthoside D and cis-tiliroside were noteworthy for their potential selective inhibition due to their specific intermolecular interactions with relevant amino acids of DPP-IV. The workflow used in this study presents a novel targeting strategy for identifying novel bioactive natural sources, which can complement the conventional selection criteria used in Natural Product Chemistry.