Inter- and intraspecific variability of selected diarylheptanoid compounds and leaf morphometric traits in Alnus glutinosa and Alnus incana

Abstract

The reliability of diarylheptanoids as chemotaxonomic markers at inter- and intraspecific levels has been investigated. Six diarylheptanoids were quantified in bark ethanol extracts of fourAlnusspp. populations by ultra-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS). The populations described here aslocus classicus Alnus glutinosa(I) andlocus classicus Alnus incana(III) are clearly differentiated. Compared to population I, individuals in population III have higher extract yields and hirsutanonol-5-O-β-D-glucopyranoside content and lower contents of hirsutanonol, rubranoside A and oregonin. Individuals from neighboring populations ofA. glutinosa(II) andA. incana(IV) share similar contents of hirsutanonol. All the studied populations exhibit a high intrapopulation variability of the selected diarylheptanoids; they have a heterogeneous chemotype and they partially overlap. The geographical proximity of populations II and IV increases their chemical similarity. Principal component analysis (PCA) clearly shows that the biggest dispersion of individuals lies within population IV. The reason for its heterogeneity might be its physical proximity to population II, i.e. the appearance of hybrids. Also, geometric morphometrics of leaves was performed as a screening criterion for spontaneous hybrids.

Population-Related Variability in Qualitative and Quantitative Secondary Metabolite Profile of Gentianella austriaca (A. & J. Kern.) Holub

“…Studies on chemodiversity among plant populations have been commonly conducted in the context of natural genetic variation and are based on distance-based measurements [34][35][36][37] or pronounced differences in environmental conditions [38,39]. Populations from non-distant sites with similar environmental patterns, however, offer a more promising opportunity for better understanding naturally occurring variability in species phytochemical profiles.…”

A Geometric Morphometrics Approach to the Study of Natural Variations and Hybrid Detection in Populations of Alnus incana (L.) Moench and Alnus rohlenae Vít, Douda and Mandák

“…Two populations of A. rohlenae were previously classified as A. glutinosa s. str. [56], due to a lack of data on A. rohlenae's exact distribution. Morphologically, the two species are very similar, making determination without estimating ploidy level challenging.…”

“…The scanned images were used to obtain 2D landmark configurations. In our previous study [56], we developed a landmark configuration to describe the leaf shape of Alnus species (Figure 7). The digitalization of specimens was carried out in tpsUtil version 1.70 ( [57], downloaded on 9 September 2016) and tpsDig version 2.26 ([58], downloaded on 9 September 2016).…”

Identification of Alnus glutinosa L. and A. incana (L.) Moench. Hybrids in Natural Forests Using Nuclear DNA Microsatellite and Morphometric Markers

“…The bark is smooth with the texture and color more like that of A. incana. These and additional traits have been used by many authors in their work to identify hybrids [28,40,41,50,51]; however, they are unique to first-generation hybrids. In the process of introgression, when hybrid alders backcross with plants of the parent species [52], morphometric traits are not sufficient to distinguish pure alder species.…”