Líffræðifélag Íslands - biologia.is
Líffræðiráðstefnan 2019
Erindi/veggspjald / Talk/poster V78
Höfundar / Authors: Maonian Xu (1), Starri Heidmarsson (2), Elin S. Olafsdottir (1)
Starfsvettvangur / Affiliations: 1. Háskóli Íslands, 2. Náttúrufræðistofnun Íslands
Kynnir / Presenter: Maonian Xu
Plants in the family Lycopodiaceae produce bioactive lycopodium alkaloids (LAs). In particular, the alkaloid huperzine A (hupA), which was first isolated from Huperzia serrata, is a potent acetylcholinesterase inhibitor, and it has been suggested for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease. Therefore, it is interesting to investigate other closely related Huperzia species. This study focused on Icelandic Huperzia selago and aimed to explore the correlation between genetic diversity and hupA contents. Three chloroplastic DNA bar- codes (e.g., rbcL, psbA–trnH, and matK) were amplified and sequenced to assess the genetic diversity of Icelandic Huperzia selago; the contents of hupA and diversity of LAs were determined by high-performance liquid chromatography coupled to photodiode array detector (HPLC- PDA) and ultrahigh-performance liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS). In total, there are three genotypes of H. selago in Iceland. Interestingly, genotype three contains a significantly higher amount of hupA than genotype one, while the intermediate genotype two shows a broad content of hupA. Principal component analysis (PCA) of UPLC-MS fingerprints also shows that each genotype tends to have a unique alkaloid profile. A PCA loading plot reveals that hupA drives the differentiation of genotype 3 from the other genotypes. Thus, we suggest that genotype 3 should be a good alternative source for hupA production. This study highlighted the importance of integrating DNA barcoding and chemical profiling in identifying the plant taxa of higher pharmaceutical importance.