Saeed Mohamadpour - Master of science student
Ghasem Karimzadeh - Full professor

Background and Aim: Goji berry fruit (Lycium spp.) belonging to Solanaceae family is a deciduous shrubbery grows in China, Tibet, and other parts of Asia. Recently, goji berries have gained ever increasing popularity as a “superfruit” in North America and European countries due to their high antioxidant properties which have great potential for development in the near future. Although, goji berries are undoubtedly a source of potentially bioactive compounds, but their phytochemical profile can vary depending on their geographical origin, genotype, and industrial processing. Despite, high value of Lycium genus in medicinal and industrial, chromosomal, genome size, and phytochemical studies are limited to some Lycium species and may prevent the production of new cultivars. The main purpose of this study was to estimate the nuclear genome size, chromosome count, and the measure of the antioxidant content of Lycium barbarum, L. ruthenicum, and L. infaustum.Methods: Root tips were pretreated in ۸-hydroxyquinoline, hydrolyzed in ۱M HCl, and stained in hematoxylin. The nuclear DNA content was determined, using PI-stained flow cytometry in which WPB used as a nuclear extraction buffer. Antioxidant activities and phenolic profiles in terms of total phenol contents, total flavonoid contents of goji berries were compared using colorimetric assays.Results: Results indicated that chromosome count of these species were ۲n = ۲x = ۲۴ and nuclear genome size of L. barbarum, L. ruthenicum, and L. infaustum were ۳.۹۳, ۵.۱۵, and ۳.۸۲ pg, respectively. The antioxidant capacity of goji berries samples was ۲۵.۴۶ ?mol g-۱. The total phenol content of L. barbarum, L. ruthenicum, and L. infaustum were ۳.۴, ۸.۶, and ۳.۲, respectively and their total flavonoid contents were ۲.۹, ۱۰.۶, and ۲.۶, respectively.Conclusion: Our results provided utilizable knowledge about Chromosomal, Genome Size and Phytochemical studies of Lycium species

Goji berry, Lycium spp., Superfruit, Chromosome, genome size, Flow cytometry, Antioxidant