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Abstract Detail



Phytochemistry: From atoms to organisms

Bennett, Alexandra [1], Kruse, Lars [2], Mahood, Elizabeth [2], Lazarus, Elena [4], Schroeder, Frank [5], Moghe, Gaurav [6].

Evolution of the diversity of defensive sugar metabolites in Solanaceae and Convolvulaceae.

The Solanaceae and its sister Convolvulaceae families are rich with many lineage-specific metabolite classes. In my talk, I will describe the large diversity of two such compound classes – acylsugars and resin glycosides – important for plant defense. Acylsugars are found in Solanaceae but not in Convolvulaceae and resin glycosides are found in Convolvulaceae but not in Solanaceae, despite being structurally analogous. Hundreds of these compounds are known to be produced across various species in the family, with some Solanaceae species producing >800 putative acylsugars on the surface of a single leaf. The diversity of acylsugars has been shown to have arisen through numerous mechanisms, however, the phylogenetic context and the extent of the resin glycoside diversity has not been described. Using UHPLC-MS/MS, we characterized the structural, organ-specific and species-specific diversity of resin glycosides in 27 species of the Convolvulaceae family. While only one species did not accumulate resin glycosides, all others showed putative resin glycoside accumulation. Some Convolvulus species produced over 300 LC-MS peaks consistent with resin glycoside fragmentation patterns. Nuclear Magnetic Resonance spectroscopy revealed the structure of a novel resin glycoside in the horticultural species Dichondra argentea. Using MS/MS fragmentation data, species and genus-specific patterns of various structural moieties were determined. MS/MS molecular networking of resin glycoside peaks revealed accumulation of high molecular weight resin glycosides in Convolvulus species that were completely absent in all other genera. Furthermore, this detailed characterization of MS/MS fragmentation patterns also allowed us to computationally predict substantial proportions of individual resin glycoside structures for hundreds of LC-MS peaks across the Convolvulaceae family. We were not only able to identify multiple previously known compounds but also discovered new putative structures using a rule-based prediction strategy. Overall, this study highlights the power of high-resolution metabolomics and computational approaches in revealing patterns of specialized metabolic diversity in plants, which can further provide insights on the unique biosynthetic mechanisms operating in each species.


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Moghe lab


1 - Universität für Bodenkultur Wien, Institute of Analytical Chemistry, Vienna, Austria
2 - Cornell University, Plant Biology Section, School of Integrative Plant Science, Ithaca, NY, 14853
3 - Cornell University, Plant Biology Section, School of Integrative Plant Science, Ithaca, NY, 14853
4 - Carnegie Institution, Department of Plant Biology, Stanford, CA, 94305
5 - Boyce Thompson Institute, Ithaca, NY, 14853
6 - Cornell University, Plant Biology, 306 Tower Road, 260 Emerson Hall, Ithaca, NY, 14853, United States

Keywords:
molecular evolution
phytochemistry
specialized metabolites
phylogenetics.

Presentation Type: Colloquium Presentations
Session: C05, Phytochemistry: From Atoms to Organisms
Location: /
Date: Wednesday, July 21st, 2021
Time: 10:15 AM(EDT)
Number: C05001
Abstract ID:645
Candidate for Awards:None


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