ARS | Publication request: Quantitate gossypol enantiomers in cotton flower petals and seed usiing capillary electrophoresis

Submitted to: Acarology International Congress Proceedings
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: December 13, 2012
Publication Date: N/A

Technical Abstract: Gossypol is a compound that occurs in the cotton plant and in leaves it protects the plant from insect herbivory. The compound also occurs in the seed. In this tissue it renders the seed toxic to non-ruminant animals. However, gossypol exists as a mixture of enantiomers referred to as (+)-gossypol and (-)-gossypol. The (-)-enantiomer is more toxic to non-ruminant animals. We have developed cotton plants with a low level of (-)-gossypol in the seed. The seed from these plants are less toxic to chickens than normal cottonseed. To breed plants with the high (+)-gossypol seed trait, the percentage of (+)- and (-)-gossypol must be determined in the flower petals and seed. This was previously accomplished using high performance liquid chromatography which requires the use of expensive solvents. We now report a method to quantitatively determine the total gossypol and percent of its enantiomers in cotton tissues using high performance capillary electrophoresis (HPCE). The method utilizes a borate buffer at pH 9.3 using a capillary with internal diameter of 50 micron, effective length of 24.5 cm, 15 kV and cassette temperature of 15°C. This method provides high accuracy and reproducible results with a limit of detection of the individual enantiomers of less than 36 ng/mL providing base line separation in less than 6 minutes.