Navigating through chemical space and evolutionary time across the Australian continent in plant genusEremophila

Abstract

Eremophila is the largest genus in the plant tribe Myoporeae (Scrophulariaceae) and exhibits incredible morphological diversity across the Australian continent. The Australian Aboriginal Peoples recognize many Eremophila species as important sources of traditional medicine, the most frequently used plant parts being the leaves. Recent phylogenetic studies have revealed complex evolutionary relationships between Eremophila and related genera in the tribe. Unique and structurally diverse metabolites, particularly diterpenoids, are also a feature of plants in this group. To assess the full dimension of the chemical space of the tribe Myoporeae, we investigated the metabolite diversity in a chemo-evolutionary framework applying a combination of molecular phylogenetic and state-of-the-art computational metabolomics tools to build a dataset involving leaf samples from a total of 291 specimens of Eremophila and allied genera. The chemo-evolutionary relationships are expounded into a systematic context by integration of information about leaf morphology (resin and hairiness), environmental factors (pollination and geographical distribution) and medicinal properties (traditional medicinal uses and antibacterial studies) augmenting our understanding of complex interactions in biological systems.

Seasonal and elevational variability in the induction of specialized compounds from mountain birch (Betula pubescens var. pumila) by winter moth larvae (Operophtera brumata)

“…A principal component analysis was conducted that revealed narrow clustering of pooled samples and blanks, indicating overall reliable spectral data acquisition throughout the analysis (see Figure S1 available as Supplementary data at Tree Physiology Online). The chemical annotation pipeline was conducted as described in Gericke et al. (2020) .…”

Keynote Lecture 3 “Polypharmacology-correlated Molecular Networking and other Essential Bioactivity-correlating Techniques for Studying Desert-loving Eremophila spp. from Australia”

“…Eremophila spp. have been used for medicinal and cultural purposes by the Australian Aboriginal people, and Eremophila is rich in bioactive diterpenoids and sesquiterpenoids 1 , 2 . The aim of this study was to apply omics and other state-of-the-art technologies for exploring the chemical and pharmacological properties of more than 300 plant samples collected in a large interdisciplinary project and use these data to select species for further drug lead discovery.…”