Recently, 1,2-dehydropyrrolizidine alkaloid (PA) ester alkaloids, found predominantly as their N-oxides (PANOs, pyrrolizidine N-oxides), have been reported in both honey and in pollen obtained directly from PA plants and pollen loads collected by bees, raising the possibility of health risks for consumers of these products. We confirm these findings in regard to floral pollen, using pollen collected directly from flowers of the known PA plants Senecio jacobaea, S. vernalis, Echium vulgare and pollinia of Phalaenopsis hybrids, and we extend analyses of 1,2-unsaturated PAs and 1,2-unsaturated PANOs to include bee-pollen products currently being sold in supermarkets and on the Internet as food supplements. PA content of floral pollen ranged from 0.5 to 5 mg/g. The highest values were observed in pollen obtained from Senecio species. Up to 95% of the PAs are found as PANOs. Detailed studies with S. vernalis revealed unique PA patterns in pollen and flowers. While seneciphylline was the most prominent PA in S. vernalis pollen, the flowers were dominated by senecionine. To analyze trace amounts of 1,2-unsaturated PAs in pollen products, our previously elaborated method consisting of strong cation exchange-SPE, two reduction steps followed by silylation and subsequent capillary high-resolution GC-MS using SIM mode was applied. In total, 55 commercially available pollen products were analyzed. Seventeen (31%) samples contained 1,2-unsaturated PAs in the range from 1.08 to 16.35 microg/g, calculated as retronecine equivalents. The 1,2-unsaturated PA content of pollen products is expressed in terms of a single sum parameter and no background information such as foraged plants, pollen analysis, etc. was needed to analyze the samples. The detection limit of overall procedure and the reliable quantitation limit were 0.003 and 0.01 microg/g, respectively.

(14)C-Labelled alkaloid precursors (arginine, putrescine, spermidine) fed to Senecio vulgaris plants via the root system were rapidly taken up and efficiently incorporated into the pyrrolizidine alkaloid senecionine N-oxide (sen-Nox) with total incorporations of 3-6%. Considerable amounts of labelled sen-Nox were translocated into the shoot and were directed mainly into the inflorescences, the major sites of pyrrolizidine-alkaloid accumulation. Detached shoots of S. vulgaris were unable to synthesize pyrrolizidine alkaloids, indicating that the roots are the site of their biosynthesis. Further evidence was obtained from studies with in-vitro systems established from S. vulgaris: root cultures were found to synthesize pyrrolizidine alkaloids but not cell-suspension cultures, tumor cultures or shoot-like teratomas obtained by transformation with Agrobacterium tumefaciens. Studies on transport of [(14)C]sen-Nox, which was fed either to detached shoots or to the root system of intact plants, indicate that the alkaloid N-oxide does not simply follow the transpiration stream but is specifically channelled to the target tissues such as epidermal stem tissue and flower heads. Exogenously applied [(14)C]senecionine is rapidly N-oxidized. If the phloem path along the stem is blocked by a "steam girdle" translocation of labelled sen-Nox is blocked as well. Root-derived sen-Nox accumulated below the girdle and only trace amounts were found in the tissues above. It is most likely that the root-to-shoot transport of sen-Nox occurs mainly if not exclusively via the phloem. In accordance with previous studies the polar, salt-like N-oxides, which are often considered to be artifacts, were found to be the real products of pyrrolizidine-alkaloid biosynthesis as well as the physiological forms for long-distance transport, tissue-specific distribution and cellular accumulation.

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The patterns of quinolizidine alkaloids in cell cultures of 10 species of Fabaceae were analyzed by high-resolution GLC and GLC-MS and compared with the alkaloids present in the leaves of the respective plants. Lupanine was produced in all 10 cell suspension cultures as the main alkaloid. It was accompanied by sparteine, tetrahydrorhombifoline, 17-oxosparteine, 13-hydroxylupanine, 4-hydroxylupanine, 17-oxolupanine, and 13-hydroxylupanine esters as minor alkaloids in some species. The alkaloid patterns of the plants differed markedly in that alpha-pyridone alkaloids were the major alkaloids in the genera Cytisus, Genista, Laburnum and Sophora but were not accumulated in the cell cultures. These data further support the assumption that the pathway leading to lupanine is the basic pathway of quinolizidine alkaloids biosynthesis and that the other alkaloids are derived from lupanine.

The profiles of pyrrolizidine alkaloids (PAs) in the two highly polyphagous arctiids Estigmene acrea and Grammia geneura and their potential PA sources in southeastern Arizona were compiled. One of four species of Boraginaceae, Plagiobothrys arizonicus, contained PAs; this is the first PA record for this plant species. The principle PA sources are Senecio longilobus (Asteraceae) and Crotalaria pumila (Fabaceae). The known PA pattern of S. longilobus was extended; the species was found to contain six closely related PAs of the senecionine type. Three novel PAs of the monocrotaline type, named pumilines A-C, were isolated and characterized from C. pumila, a species not studied before. The pumilines are the major PAs in the seeds, while in the vegetative organs they are accompanied by the simple necine derivatives supinidine and as the dominant compound subulacine (1beta,2beta-epoxytrachelanthamidine). In both plant species, the PAs are stored as N-oxides, except C. pumila seeds, which accumulate the free bases. Great variation in PA composition was observed between local populations of C. pumila. The PA profiles were established for larvae and adults of E. acrea that as larvae had fed on an artificial diet supplemented with crotalaria-powder and of G. geneura fed with S. longilobus. In both experiments, the larvae had a free choice between the respective PA source and diet or food plants free of PAs. The profiles compiled for the two species reflect the alkaloid profiles of their PA sources with one exception, subulacine could never be detected in E. acrea. Besides acquired PAs, insect PAs synthesized from acquired necine bases and necic acids of insect origin were detected in the two arctiid species. These insect PAs that do not occur in the larval food sources accounted for some 40-70% (E. acrea) and 17-37% (G. geneura) of total PAs extracted from the insects. A number of novel insect PAs were identified. Plant-acquired and insect PAs were found to accumulate as N-oxides. The results are discussed in relation to specific biochemical, electrophysiological, and behavioral mechanisms involved in PA sequestration by arctiids.

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