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ARS Home » Plains Area » College Station, Texas » Southern Plains Agricultural Research Center » Insect Control and Cotton Disease Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #290047

Title: New HPLC methods to quantitate terpenoid aldehydes in foliage of cotton (Gossypium)

Author
item Puckhaber, Lorraine
item Frelichowski, James - Jim
item Bell, Alois - Al
item Stipanovic, Robert - Bob

Submitted to: Journal of Natural Products
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 11/4/2014
Publication Date: 12/15/2014
Citation: Puckhaber, L.S., Frelichowski, J.E., Bell, A.A., Stipanovic, R.D. 2014. New HPLC methods to quantitate terpenoid aldehydes in foliage of cotton (Gossypium). Journal of Natural Products. 4(3):188-195.

Interpretive Summary: The cotton plant produces a complex mixture of chemicals that protect the plant from insect attack. Tracking the concentration of these compounds can be a useful tool for breeders who wish to increase or sustain resistance to insects. More than 10 years ago we had developed a technique to measure the concentration of the different chemicals in different plant tissues. Some of the apparatus used to accomplish this task is no longer available. We now report a new technique to quantitate these chemicals that can be used by breeders.

Technical Abstract: The cotton plant (Gossypium) produces protective terpenoid aldehydes in lysigenous pigment glands. These terpenoids include hemigossypolone, hemigossypolone-6-methyl ether, gossypol, gossypol-6-methyl ether, gossypol-6,6'-dimethyl ether, heliocides H1, H2, H3 and H4, and heliocides B1, B2, B3 and B4. Quantitation of these compounds is important to understand host-pest interactions. The column used in our previous HPLC/DAD method is no longer manufactured. Thus, three new methods were developed that use a Scientific Glass Engineering ProteCol-GP-C18 column maintained at 30°C with gradients of acetonitrile:ethanol:isopropanol:N,N-dimethylformamide:methanol:ethyl acetate as the organic solvent and 0.1% H3PO4 as the aqueous solvent. Method one separates hemigossypolone, hemigossypolone-6-methyl ether, gossypol, gossypol-6-methyl ether, gossypol-6,6'-dimethyl ether and heliocides H1, H2, H3 and H4; method two separates these compounds as well as heliocides B1 and B4; method three allows resolution of heliocides B1, B2, B3 and B4 as well as the other terpenoids. The new methods provide superior separation of the methylated gossypol derivatives as well as the heliocides H1 to H4 and the heliocides B1, B2 and B3. The chromatogram is monitored at 272 nm, and spectra are stored over 240-600 nm. These methods allow cotton breeders to track the terpenoid aldehyde composition in plant tissues as they develop new cotton germplasm. The method has been used to establish for the first time the introgression from the wild cotton G. sturtianum into commercial Upland cotton G. hirsutum.