Building the Resilience of Marginal Rural Areas Using a Complementary Characterization Approach: Possible Beneficial Health Effects and Stress Tolerance of Italian Common Bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) Landraces

Common bean landraces, besides contributing to the preservation of the social and cultural identity of the local communities of the production area, typically display adaptability to adverse agro-climatic conditions. This adapted germplasm is a repository of the gene pool and also shows typical phytochemical profiles, representing an essential source of bioactive components. However, genetic erosion is progressively affecting this genetic material, creating serious threats to its cultivation in marginal rural areas and use as a source of biodiversity and bioproducts. In the present work, a comprehensive approach was used to characterize the seed morpho-colorimetric traits, genetic diversity, and NMR metabolomic profiles of three Italian common bean landraces. Specific physiological and biochemical features (antioxidant molecules, osmolytes, structural reorganization of photosynthetic pigment, etc.), together with the accumulation of distinctive metabolites, contribute to the description of the observed diversity among the landraces in terms of the salt stress response and antiproliferative abilities on intestinal human cancer cells. This information could be useful in establishing their value in terms of environmental and/or human health “service”, both essential to translating landraces into competitive products, a prerequisite for envisioning appropriate strategies for their conservation and a driving force for the revitalization of marginal rural areas.