Distinct Drimane Chemotypes in Tasmanian Mountain Pepper (Tasmannia lanceolata): Differences in the Profiles of Pungent Leaf Phytochemicals Associated with Altitudinal Cline

Abstract

This study assesses whether the distinct altitudinal cline in leaf morphology (decreased leaf width and length with increased altitude) in Tasmanian mountain pepper (Tasmannia lanceolata) is associated with changes in the leaf chemistry of wild populations from different ecological landscapes and altitudes. The presence of distinct pungent drimane sesquiterpenoid chemotypes was identified: subalpine woodland and wet sclerophyll forest chemotypes. Isolation studies and analysis of extracts revealed that wet sclerophyll forest T. lanceolata populations featured polygodial as the principal terpenoid, with profiles similar to the commercial cultivars sampled. In contrast, the subalpine woodland populations contained the drimane sesquiterpenoids 1β-acetoxy-9-deoxyisomuzigadial and 3β-acetoxydrimenin and the conspicuous absence of the pungent principle polygodial.

Development and Applications of Water‐based Extraction Methods in Natural Products Isolation Chemistry

“…PHWE was combined with high throughput analysis via LC-MS and GC-MS to facilitate a study investigating the effects of altitudinal cline on 40 individual Tasmannia lanceolata specimens across wild populations from two wet sclerophyll forest and two subalpine woodland locations. [45] This led to the isolation and identification of a wet sclerophyll forest T. lanceolata drimane sesquiterpenoid chemotype 39 consistent with those found in commercial cultivars and subalpine woodland chemotypes 41 and 42. Individuals sampled in the latter environments were conspicuously devoid of drimane 39.…”

“…Key advantages of PHWE include the operational simplicity, the accessibility and low cost of instrumentation, rapid extraction times enabling high sampling throughput, and the preparation of extracts in which the presence of intractable plant pigments is minimised. The above-mentioned features suggest that PHWE can usefully contribute to facilitating natural products isolation chemistry, phytochemical analysis, and, beyond this, better enabling chemotaxonomic surveys, [33,45] bioprospecting, [38] and bioactivity-guided extraction. [52] Furthermore, the affordable, innately practical, and simple nature of many of these water- based extraction strategies should contribute to the wider application and uptake of this methodology in the future.…”