Plant defensive secondary metabolites can serve as useful tools for studying plant-herbivore interactions and co-evolution. Plants from the Apocynaceae family vary in production of the<u> </u>defensive chemicals, pyrrolizidine alkaloids (PAs), the loss of which is a possible adaptation towards specialist herbivores that have co-opted PAs for their own use. The aim of this project is to explore the distribution of retronecine-type PAs from Apocynaceae leaves using HPLC-MS/MS to correlate chemical phenotype with the genotype of homospermidine synthase, the first pathway specific gene in PA biosynthesis. A precursor ion scan (PREC) was developed to allow a high-throughput survey of Apocynaceae leaves for chemicals containing the retronecine base, a structural moiety common to many PAs.

Strategies for the detection of pyrrolizidine alkaloids and their N-oxides in Apocynaceae leaves

Macromolecular Chemistry: The Second Century

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ACS Spring 2020 National Meeting & Expo

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.