The Multifaceted Applications of Aniseed: From Medicinal Uses to Genomic and Phylogenetic İnvestigations

The genus Pimpinella L. is considered to be among the largest within the family Umbelliferae (Apiaceae), comprising approximately 180 species distributed globally. Aniseed (Pimpinella anisum L.) is an important annual, industrial, and aromatic plant within this botanical family. Aniseed, commonly known as aniseed, is of considerable medicinal and commercial importance. Several studies have investigated the morphology and phytochemical composition of aniseed fruits. Overall, the morphological and phytochemical features of aniseed make it a valuable species for various applications in medicine, cosmetics, and conservation (Sarma et al. 2022). Currently, accessible genomic data for the genus Pimpinella are limited. Although it is a highly valued spice with pharmacological advantages, data on the genetic and genomic relationships of anise are scarce. These markers encompass various molecular techniques such as randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD), inter-simple sequence repeat (ISSR) (Giachino RRA, Genet Resour Crop Evol 67:763–780, 2020), internal transcribed spacer (ITS) (Tabanca N, Douglas AW, Bedir E, Dayan FE, Kirimer N, Baser KHC, Plant Genet Resour 3:149–169, 2005a; Nurcahyanti ADR, Nasser IJ, Sporer F, Diversity 8:15, 2016), cpDNA, rps16 intron and rpl16 intron (Wang ZX, Downie SR, Tan JB, Liao CY, Yu Y, He XJ, Nord J Bot 32:642–657, 2014), inter-retrotransposon amplified polymorphisms (IRAP) (Maraklı S, Marmara Fen Bilimleri Dergisi 3:299–304, 2018), and amplified fragment length polymorphisms (AFLP) (Gemeinholzer B, Reiker J, Müller CM, Wissemann V, Plant Biol 22:1092–1101, 2020). This chapter provides a comprehensive review of the molecular markers used to study genetic variation in Pimpinella germplasm and to determine phylogenetic relationships. Furthermore, the morphology, distribution, commercial importance, and various applications in the food and beverage industry of this genus are discussed.