Back to Search Start Over

Floral Volatile Organic Compounds of Mitchella repens (Rubiaceae)

Authors :
Aleel K. Grennan
Kathleen C. Murphy
Mary Fowler
Adam Bengtson
Jay Turner
Lucas Horan
Julia Fitzpatrick
Logan Desilets
Source :
Plant-Environment Interactions, Vol 5, Iss 6, Pp n/a-n/a (2024)
Publication Year :
2024
Publisher :
Wiley, 2024.

Abstract

ABSTRACT Mitchella repens (partridgeberry; family Rubiaceae) is a creeping, understory plant native to eastern North America. The twinned, tubular flowers of this distylous plant are bright white and produce volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Partridgeberry has intermorph incompatibility and thus requires pollinators to move pollen from one morph to the other. Despite partridgeberry being a common member of forest communities, little is known about its pollination syndrome. Using headspace solid‐phase microextraction (HS‐SPME) coupled with gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) analysis the floral VOCs were identified, with the four predominant molecules being α‐pinene, camphene, D‐limonene, and verbenone. The VOC profile contained 27 molecules consisting mostly of monoterpenes. Two independent sample t‐tests confirmed that each morph produced statistically similar floral VOC profiles (p > 0.1). Additionally, two of the predominant VOC molecules, α‐pinene and D‐limonene, were measured throughout the 5‐day flowering cycle. Simple linear regressions of these compound levels versus days after flowering (DAF) confirmed that α‐pinene and D‐limonene both decreased with flower age. Insect visits were observed to correlate with α‐pinene and D‐limonene concentrations, peaking at 1–2 DAF and then declining through 5 DAF.

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
25756265
Volume :
5
Issue :
6
Database :
Directory of Open Access Journals
Journal :
Plant-Environment Interactions
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
edsdoj.3b8cfbc126f4c64afda158f8df0dc5e
Document Type :
article
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1002/pei3.70022