Variability of n‐Alkanes and Nonacosan‐10‐ol in Natural Populations of Picea omorika

Abstract

This is the first report of population variability of the contents of n-alkanes and nonacosan-10-ol in the needle epicuticular waxes of Serbian spruce (Picea omorika). The hexane extracts of needle samples originated from three natural populations in Serbia (Vranjak, Zmajevački potok, and Mileševka Canyon) were investigated by GC and GC/MS analyses. The amount of nonacosan-10-ol varied individually from 50.05 to 74.42% (65.74% in average), but the differences between the three investigated populations were not statistically confirmed. The results exhibited variability of the composition of n-alkanes in the epicuticular waxes with their size ranging from C(18) to C(35). The most abundant n-alkanes were C(29), C(31), and C(27) (35.22, 13.77, and 12.28% in average, resp.). The carbon preference index of all the n-alkanes (CPI(total)) of the P. omorika populations (average of populations I-III) ranged from 3.3 to 11.5 (mean of 5.9), while the average chain length (ACL) ranged from 26.6 to 29.2. The principal component and cluster analyses of the contents of nine n-alkanes showed the greatest difference for the population growing in the Mileševka Canyon. The obtained results were compared with previous literature data given for other Picea species, and this comparison was briefly discussed.

Headspace volatiles isolated from twigs of Picea omorika from Serbia

“…The statistical analyses show a high intrapopulation variability which is congruent with both molecular and phytochemical data [8,12,[28][29][30]. The lowest variability was found in the population VRA, where all except one individual are grouped close to each other.…”

Geographically Related Variation in Epicuticular Wax Traits of Pinus nigra Populations from Southern Carpathians and Central Balkans – Taxonomic Considerations

“…C 29 , C 25 , C 27 , and C 23 have been found to be dominant in P. peuce Griseb . and C 23 , C 27 , C 25 in P. heldreichii Christ . However, if the composition of P. nigra needle waxes at the population level in this study was compared, there was an observable domination of first two n ‐alkanes (C 27 and C 25 ) in all populations of subsp.…”

“…Among the compounds constituting the cuticular waxes, n ‐alkanes have been used extensively as chemotaxonomic markers in different plant families . Furthermore, many authors suggested n ‐alkanes as very informative markers in the studies of geographic variation and/or identification of infraspecific taxa of Pinus , Picea , and Juniperus species. In the case of P. nigra , variability and differentiation of native populations using n ‐alkane markers have already been studied, but in a relatively reduced part of its natural range .…”

Diversity of nonacosan-10-ol and n-alkanes among 12 Pinus taxa

“…Most commonly encountered are homologous series of even-numbered fatty acids, primary alcohols, alkyl esters and aldehydes, as well as odd-numbered alkanes, secondary alcohols and ketones (Kunst and Samuels 2003). In addition, detail population investigations based on the composition of secondary alcohol nonacosan-10-ol of the needle waxes of P. halepensis (Matas et al 2003), P. heldreichii (Nikolić et al 2012a), P. peuce (Nikolić et al 2012b) and Picea omorika (Nikolić et al 2013a) in different parts of their distribution were reported recently.…”

“…It was already known that CPIs and ACLs could be use as chemotaxonomic markers (Herbin and Robins 1968), in environmental studies (Lockheart et al 1998), in paleoenvironmental reconstructions (Corrigan et al 1978), etc. Furthermore, a number of studies suggested n-alkanes as very informative markers in the studies of geographic variation and/or identification of infraspecific taxa of Pinus (Nikolić et al 2010(Nikolić et al , 2012a2012b;Mitić et al 2018a;, Picea (Nikolić et al 2013a), Juniperus (Dodd and Poveda 2003;Rajčević et al 2013), and other species (Günthardt -Goerg 1986). Furthermore, chemotaxonomic implications between several conifers were reported, too (Nikolić et al 2013b.…”