Variation in pyrrolizidine alkaloid patterns of Senecio jacobaea

We studied the variation in pyrrolizidine alkaloid (PA) patterns of lab-grown vegetative plants of 11 European Senecio jacobaea populations. Plants were classified as jacobine, erucifoline, mixed or senecionine chemotypes based on presence and absence of the PAs jacobine or erucifoline. Due to the presence of jacobine, total PA concentration in jacobine chemotypes was higher than in erucifoline chemotypes. Both relative and absolute concentrations of individual PAs differed between half-sib and clonal families, which showed that variation in PA patterns had a genetic basis. Within most populations relative abundance of PAs varied considerably between individual plants. Most populations consisted either of the jacobine chemotype or of the erucifoline chemotype, sometimes in combination with mixed or senecionine chemotypes.