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Chemo‐Geographic Variations in Wild Population of Asteriscus graveolens in Israel Based on Volatile Composition Analyses
Author(s) -
BenGera Hadas,
Bensimon Mashraki Keren,
Sharma Reena,
Shachter Alona,
Chaimovitsh David,
Gonda Itay,
Nitzan Nadav,
Dudai Nativ
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
chemistry and biodiversity
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.427
H-Index - 70
eISSN - 1612-1880
pISSN - 1612-1872
DOI - 10.1002/cbdv.202000311
Subject(s) - asteraceae , germacrene , essential oil , population , chemotype , gas chromatography–mass spectrometry , chemistry , botany , composition (language) , biology , chromatography , mass spectrometry , linguistics , demography , philosophy , sociology
Asteriscus graveolens is an aromatic desert shrub which holds medicinal potential. This species belongs to the Asteraceae family and is endemic to the Mediterranean region. In the present study, wild plants were sampled from eleven locations throughout southern Israel and the volatile profiles from leaves and flowers were analyzed using GC/MS. Three methods for volatile sampling were tested for a representative population: solvent extraction (methyl tert ‐butyl ether), hydrodistillation of the essential oil and headspace solid‐phase microextraction. In all methods, the majority of volatiles were characterized as oxygenated mono‐ and sesquiterpenes. Only solvent extraction was able to detect asteriscunolides that were previously reported as anticancer molecules. Hence, that method was chosen for further analyses. The leaves were dominated by three asteriscunolide isomers, cis‐ chrysanthenyl acetate and intermedeol. The flowers were dominated by bisabolone, 6‐hydroxybisabol‐2‐en‐1‐one, cis‐ chrysanthenyl acetate, epi ‐ α ‐cadinol, and germacrene‐D. k ‐Means clustering analysis of these data divided the population into four clusters that significantly differ in their volatile composition as was further demonstrated by MANOVA analysis. Geographically, A. graveolens populations growing in Israel were found to be chemically diverse with unique varieties in the Dead Sea basin and the Arava region. This work demonstrates that chemo‐geographic variation of volatile composition exists within A. graveolens population growing in Israel, so future research evaluating the medicinal potential of that plant should take this into consideration.