INTEGRATED PROFILING OF FURANOCOUMARINS (FC) IN GRAPEFRUIT HYBRIDS TOWARD SELECTION OF LOW FC CULTIVARS

Furanocoumarins (FC) are a class of organic chemical components in grapefruits and other diet plants. Some of them in grapefruit juice can induce potentially adverse interactions with human drugs and in that patients may be advised to avoid the fruit and juice. To develop low FC grapefruit cultivars, integrated approaches were used to facilitate achieving the goal, including quantification of different FC, inference of the trait inheritance, comparison of their inhibitory potency on cytochrome P450, an enzyme responsible for drug metabolism. 6,7-DHB, bergamottin, and paradisin C concentrations were found to share strong correlations (R² up to 0.91) and co-segregate approximately in a 1:1 manner among hybrids with low and high FC content at the preset cutoff total FC concentration. The inhibitory potency on cytochrome P450 appeared to correlate with the FC content (R² up to 0.96) in different juice samples. The phytochemical, genetic, and pharmaceutical profiles of the FC are leading to an ultimate solution to the grapefruit juice drug interaction issue by selection of some FC-eliminated grapefruit cultivars.