The South African and Namibian to populations of the resurrection plant Myrothamnus flabellifolius are genetically distinct and display variation in their galloylquinic acid composition

Moore, John P; Farrant, Jill M; Lindsey, George G; Brandt, Wolf F

The South African and Namibian to populations of the resurrection plant Myrothamnus flabellifolius are genetically distinct and display variation in their galloylquinic acid composition

Journal Article

2005

Journal Title

Journal of Chemical Ecology

Link to Journal

http://link.springer.com/journal/10886

Publisher

Springer Verlag

Publisher

University of Cape Town

Abstract

The polyphenol contents and compositions in desiccated leaves of Myrothamnus flabellifolius plants collected in various locations in Namibia and South Africa were analyzed using UV spectroscopy and high-performance liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry. A study of the genetic relatedness of these populations was also performed by determination of the DNA sequence of the intergenic spacer region between the psbA and the trnH genes in the chloroplast genome. Namibian M. flabellifolius plants contained signi- ficantly more polyphenols than South African plants. Namibian plants essentially contained a single polyphenol, 3,4,5-tri-O-galloylquinic acid, whereas South African plants contained a variety of galloylquinic acids including 3,4,5-tri-O-galloylquinic acid together with higher molecular weight galloylquinic acids. Sequence analysis revealed a 1.4% divergence between Namibian and South African plants corresponding to the separation of these populations of approximately 4 106 years. The significance of the polyphenol content and composition to the desiccation tolerance of the two populations is discussed.