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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Hilo, Hawaii » Daniel K. Inouye U.S. Pacific Basin Agricultural Research Center » Tropical Plant Genetic Resources and Disease Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #306798
Title: Chemotaxonomy of Hawaiian Anthurium cultivars based on multivariate analysis of phenolic metabolites

Author
item CLARK, BENJAMIN - University Of Hawaii
item BLISS, BARBARA - Former ARS Employee
item Suzuki, Jon
item BORRIS, ROBERT - University Of Hawaii

Submitted to: Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/5/2014
Publication Date: 11/6/2014
Citation: Clark, B.R., Bliss, B.J., Suzuki, J.Y., Borris, R.P. 2014. Chemotaxonomy of Hawaiian Anthurium cultivars based on multivariate analysis of phenolic metabolites. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. 62:11323-11334.

Interpretive Summary: Anthurium is an important commercial cut flower and potted flower crop, popular due to showy, leaf-like spathes found in various attractive shapes and colors. From pioneering studies performed at the University of Hawaii, it was known that the vibrant spathe colors observed among the different cultivars were due in part to varying ratios of pigments known as anthocyanins. In this study, we applied more sensitive biochemical detection methods to enable quantitative analysis of anthocyanin and related compound levels in Hawaiian cultivars as well as their putative parental Anthurium species. The obtained data represents a reference biochemical “fingerprint” of anthocyanin and related compound levels in Anthurium cultivars of different colors and select species. Quantitative information on Anthurium floral pigment levels should aid in breeding programs or biotechnological approaches aimed at improving Anthurium floral color traits through a better understanding of the relationship between pigment composition, color and inheritance.

Technical Abstract: Thirty-six anthurium spathes, sampled from species and commercial cultivars, were extracted and profiled using liquid-chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS). 315 compounds, including anthocyanins, flavonoid glycosides, and flavanols, were detected from these extracts and used in chemotaxonomic analysis of the specimens. Hierarchical Cluster Analysis (HCA) revealed close chemical similarities between all of the commercial standard cultivars, while tulip-shaped cultivars and species displayed much greater chemical variation. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Principal Least Squares Discriminant Analysis (PLS-DA) supported the results from HCA, and were used to identify key metabolites characteristic of standard and tulip cultivars, and to identify chemical markers indicative of a particular ancestry. These metabolites included embinin which was characteristic of standard-shaped spathes and indicated ancestry from A. andraeanum, while isocytisoside-7-glucoside was found in the majority of tulip-shaped cultivars and suggested that A. amnicola or A. antioquiense had contributed to their pedigree.