Arnica

Arnica montana, one of Europe’s most economically significant medicinal plants, has been used as a medicinal herb for centuries. Its bright yellow flower heads are used to make many phytopharmaceutical products, including tinctures, ointments, creams, and gels that treat blunt injuries, such as bruises, swelling, sprains, and hematomas. The consistently high demand for standardized arnica raw materials highlights its importance in phytopharmacy, making the species a key focus of research, cultivation, and breeding.

The pharmacological effects of arnica flowers are primarily attributed to sesquiterpene lactones, such as helenalin and dihydrohelenalin, and their derivatives. In nature, these compounds protect the plant from herbivores and microorganisms. The composition and content of these bioactive compounds are both crucial to the quality of arnica raw materials.

The content and composition of sesquiterpene lactones are subject to genetic, abiotic, and biotic factors that control their biosynthesis and accumulation. The total content in the flowers can range from 0.3 to 1.0 g per 100 g of dry weight. The European Pharmacopoeia, however, requires a minimum content of 0.4 g of sesquiterpene lactones per 100 g of dried arnica flowers (Arnicae flos). Therefore, ensuring a consistently high quality of active ingredients is a key challenge for cultivation, quality control, and breeding.
The pronounced natural variation in sesquiterpene lactone profiles is also particularly relevant for research and breeding. For instance, Central European and Spanish arnica populations exhibit significant differences in their active ingredient composition. Understanding the genetic basis of these differences could lead to the development of high-performing varieties with defined active ingredient profiles and consistently high-quality raw materials. Thus, Arnica montana offers considerable potential for advancing modern medicinal plants through knowledge and data.
To ensure the long-term availability of high-quality medicinal and therapeutic plants, the "Functional and Applied Genomics" department is collaborating with partners, including Fraunhofer UMSICHT and Forschungszentrum Jülich, to develop integrated, economically viable value chains. Our approach ranges from developing high-performing varieties and innovative cultivation and harvesting methods to efficiently providing high-quality active ingredient extracts for phytopharmacy and other natural product–based applications.
We focus our R&D efforts on transforming high-value medicinal and therapeutic plants into crops adapted to agricultural conditions through selection and modern plant breeding, as well as on developing innovative methods for the targeted control and increase of active ingredient content through biological, chemical, and physical stress induction.