Metabolomics of fabaceous invasive plants from Colombia: an approach for lead finding from nature

Fabaceae family is a big group of flowering plants. Several of them have been introduced in various countries for diverse purposes but some become a problem because of biological invasions [1]. In Colombia, two Fabaceous species were introduced from Europe for ornamental uses such as Ulex europeaus and Genista monspessulana, and they have progressively dominated some native environments as well as altering many aspects of ecosystem functioning [2]. For invasion success, this kind of plants can produce novel and unique secondary metabolites [3]. Thus, as part of our research on chemoprospecting of invasive plants, 17 and 19 plant accessions of U. europeaus and G. monspessulana, respectively, from different invaded places in Bogotá plateu, were investigated through a comprehensive untargeted LC-MS-based metabolomics approach in order to observe the chemical variability between samples and its implication on DPPH· and ABTS+· radical-scavenging and ferric-reducing capacities. The MS analysis resulted in the identification of different metabolites belonging to varied chemical classes but most samples exhibited the presence of free and glycosilated genistein, daizein and luteolin. The thirty six materials also showed antioxidant capacity at different levels (2>IC₅₀(µg/mL)> 55). The PCA and PLS-DA-derived score plots indicated several differences between samples but clustered according characteristic chemical constituents. The supervised analysis indicated the existence of three non-common flavone-related compounds to be responsible of the FRAP and radical-scavenging capacities. The present untargeted metabolomics exploration of these invasive plants is an excellent approach for lead finding from nature.

Acknowledgement: The present work is a product derived by the Project IMP-CIAS-1567 financed by UMNG – Validity 2014.

References:

[1] Pappert et al. Am J Bot. 2000; 87: 1240; [2] Macel et al. Ecol Evol 2014; 4: 2777; [3] Cappuccino et al. Biol Lett 2006; 2: 189.