Wild Edible Plants of Rosoideae Subfamily: Correlation of Phenolic Content with Bioactivity

Fruits of edible plants belonging to the Rosoideae subfamily are widely consumed as foods or utilized as herbs by various traditional medicine systems. Although these plants are mostly known for their rich phenolic content, there are only limited studies exploiting the relationship between their phenolic composition and bioactivities. The present study constitutes an exploratory chemical and bioactivity screening of fruits harvested from the following eight wildly grown edible Rosoideae plant species: Rosa canina, Rosa sempervirens, Rosa pulverulenta, Rosa arvensis, Fragaria vesca, Rubus sanctus, Rubus idaeus and Sanguisorba officinalis. In this context, the total phenolic and flavonoid contents of the investigated fruits were determined, and the presence of selected individual phenolic compounds was quantified. In addition, their antioxidant properties were evaluated by applying the ABTS and DPPH• assays, and their antiproliferative properties were assessed against selected tumor cell lines. Finally, the antiviral properties of fruits were investigated against fourteen common viruses. Respective results highlighted ellagic acid as the prevailing phenolic molecule for six investigated species, whereas several extracts displayed varying levels of antioxidant activities and moderate antiproliferative effects in the tested models. Furthermore, most extracts exhibited an inhibitory effect against Influenza viruses A (H1N1 and H3N2) and B, displaying IC50 values ranging from 0.6 to 4 μg/mL, comparable to currently used antiviral agents. Finally, the Rubus idaeus and Rosa canina fruit extracts were active against adenovirus-2. Since the bioactivities determined herein are based on single biological replicates, they are considered an indicative lead that provides an initial basis for prioritizing these edible Rosoideae species for future studies, which will involve a more detailed characterization of their bioactive phenolic constituents and more extensive, replicated biological experiments.