# The Bioprospecting of Bixa orellana L. for the Selection of Characters with Biological Activity

## TL;DR

This study identifies specific traits in Bixa orellana plants that produce bioactive compounds with anticancer and antibacterial properties.

## Contribution

The paper introduces a novel approach combining cladistics and multivariate analysis to identify bioprospective traits in Bixa orellana.

## Key findings

- Phenotypes from India, Brazil, and Yucatán show anticancer activity against multiple cell lines.
- These phenotypes also exhibit antibacterial effects against Staphylococcus aureus and other bacteria.
- Biochemical compounds like geranylgeraniol, ellagic acid, and carotenoids are linked to biological activity.

## Abstract

A meta-analysis of 28 sources of information was conducted, considering different variables in Bixa orellana, with the aim of identifying bioprospective variables. Variables were approached, such as the organ of extraction and extraction method, with 63 biochemical classes and 20 for biological activity, and their states were codified. The statistical analysis was developed through a cladistics analysis using the WinClada version1.00.08 84,85 software and the explicative accumulated variance was determined through a descriptive multivariate analysis and multiple correspondence analysis (MCA). The tree obtained showed the phenotype Africa1 as the one closest to the basal state. After Africa1, nine clades are derived and the phenotypes Colombia3 and Colombia5 were the most evolved. The analyses demonstrated that in B. orellana L., the phenotypes from India, Brazil, and Yucatán present anticancer activity against the cell lines U251, MCF-7, HeLa, NCI-H460, PC-3, A549 and HT-29, as well as biological activity against Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, related primarily with biochemical compounds such as geranylgeraniol, ellagic acid, and carotenoids (bixin and norbixin), naringenin and alkaloids. The conditions of reproductive isolation of the phenotypes mentioned before providing the ideal agroclimatic conditions to produce compounds with biological activity.