Skip to main content
ARS Home » Midwest Area » Ames, Iowa » Plant Introduction Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #196257
Title: METABOLITE PROFILING OF ECHINACEA GENOTYPES

Author
item WU, LANKUN - IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY
item DIXON, PHILIP - IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY
item NIKOLAU, BASIL - IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY
item Widrlechner, Mark
item WURTELE, EVE SYRKIN - IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY

Submitted to: American Society of Plant Biologists Annual Meeting
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/2/2006
Publication Date: 8/5/2006
Citation: Wu, L., Dixon, P.M., Nikolau, B.J., Widrlechner, M.P., Wurtele, E. 2006. Metabolite profiling of echinacea genotypes [abstract]. American Society of Plant Biologists Annual Meeting. P24047.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Echinacea extracts have historically been used as herbal remedies to treat colds, coughs and snake bites. Echinacea products are currently sold as a popular herbal-remedy used for general enhancement of the immune system. However, the genetic variation in metabolites has not been systematically characterized, nor is it clear which specific compounds are responsible for bioactivity. We are using a targeted metabolite profiling approach to investigate the accumulation of potentially bioactive compounds in Echinacea plants from well-characterized populations. GC-MS and HPLC-PDA, coupled with two multivariate statistical approaches, weighted principal component analysis (WPCA) and clustering analysis, were used to carry out the metabolite profiling of the roots of 40 accessions of Echinacea representing broad geographic diversity of all 9 Echinacea species. In total, 43 lipophilic metabolites including 25 unknowns were detected and quantified. Our data revealed that there are large quantitative and qualitative differences in lipophilic metabolites between and within Echinacea species, and most Echinacea species can be identified by their distinct lipophilic metabolite fingerprints. Our studies can serve as a foundation for systems to standardize Echinacea products, identify plant material of unknown provenance used in commercial products, and find new genetic sources to select for increased production of putative bioactive compounds. In addition, of the 25 unknown metabolites we found, some have been suggested as potential novel bioactive compounds. These novel metabolites are currently being purified by semi-preparative HPLC, chemically characterized by LC-UV-ESI-MS/MS and NMR, and tested for bioactivity in vertebrate systems.