Abstract
Metabolic profiling allows for simultaneous and rapid annotation of biochemically similar organismal metabolites. An effective platform for profiling of toxic pyrrolizidine alkaloids (PAs) and their N-oxides (PANOs) was developed using ultra high pressure liquid chromatography quadrupole time-of-flight (UHPLC-QTOF) mass spectrometry. Field-collected populations of invasive Australian weeds, Echium plantagineum and E. vulgare were raised under controlled glasshouse conditions and surveyed for the presence of related PAs and PANOs in leaf tissues at various growth stages. Echium plantagineum possessed numerous related and abundant PANOs (>17) by seven days following seed germination, and these were also observed in rosette and flowering growth stages. In contrast, the less invasive E. vulgare accumulated significantly lower levels of most PANOs under identical glasshouse conditions. Several previously unreported PAs were also found at trace levels. Field-grown populations of both species were also evaluated for PA production and highly toxic echimidine N-oxide was amongst the most abundant PANOs in foliage of both species. PAs in field and glasshouse plants were more abundant in the more widely invasive species, E. plantagineum, and may provide competitive advantage by increasing the plant’s capacity to deter natural enemies in its invaded range through production of novel weapons.
Highlights
Metabolites are the end products of gene expression and are a reflection of an organism’s state at a particular moment in time [1,2,3]
The UHPLC-QTOF MS method coupled to bioinformatics and statistical analysis along with the integration of published data on similar pyrrolizidine alkaloids allowed for annotation of 17 PAs and PANOs (Table 1; Figure 2) detected in extracts of foliar tissues of E. plantagineum
Plants introduced to novel environments may have the advantage of escape from their natural biocontrol agents [48] or competitors and in some cases may adapt to novel environments as is the case of E. plantagineum in contrast to E. vulgare [49]
Summary
Metabolites are the end products of gene expression and are a reflection of an organism’s state at a particular moment in time [1,2,3]. Metabolites directly reflect the interaction between a plant’s environment and its genome, and metabolic profiling allows further investigation of the impact of plant phenology and biotic or abiotic stressors on plant phenotype [2,3,4]. Metabolic profiling is a technique that generates a unique chemical fingerprint for each sample and allows the identification of diverse set of plant secondary products (PSPs) in plant extracts [3,5]. Metabolic profiling most often focuses on compounds of similar origin or chemical properties [7], and can be performed using both targeted and untargeted approaches [3]. Bioinformatics performed to interpret data generated by metabolic profiling results in an improved understanding of the plant’s response to varying environmental conditions at the biochemical, cellular and organismal level [4,8,9]
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