苦参草(L.)Moq。,亚洲温带沙漠特有的先锋植物,可以驯化成具有突出生态和药用特性的理想作物。先前的研究表明,两种原位海拔生态型之间的类黄酮积累存在差异。为了验证这种积累是由环境因素还是遗传因素决定的,我们在一个普通的花园实验基础上,对从不同海拔高度地区采集的14个squarrosum种群进行了类黄酮靶向代谢分析.结果表明,水曲柳中含量最高的类黄酮是异鼠李素(48.40%,557.45μg/g),其次是槲皮素(13.04%,150.15μg/g),三酸(11.17%,128.70μg/g),异槲皮苷(7.59%,87.42μg/g),异硫酸酯素(7.20%,82.94μg/g),和芦丁(7.00%,80.62μg/g)。然而,基于中等海拔环境的普通花园,几乎没有一种类黄酮在高海拔人群中富集,甚至一些类黄酮,比如槲皮素,tricin,还有芦丁,在低海拔人群中显著富集。这种现象表明类黄酮的积累不是当地适应高海拔的结果。此外,与原位环境变量的关联分析表明,槲皮素的含量,tricin,芦丁与纬度呈强烈正相关,经度,和降水梯度,与温度梯度负相关。因此,我们可以得出的结论是,除了高海拔地区外,黄酮类化合物在S.squarrosum中的积累更可能是由于当地对环境异质性的适应以及降水和温度的影响。本研究不仅为了解生药学的分子生态学基础提供了一个范例,而且还提供了开发具有生态和农业重要性的新工业作物的方法。
Agriophyllum squarrosum (L.) Moq., a pioneer plant endemic to the temperate deserts of Asia, could be domesticated into an ideal crop with outstanding ecological and medicinal characteristics. A previous study showed differential flavonoid accumulation between two in situ altitudinal ecotypes. To verify whether this accumulation was determined by environmental or genetic factors, we conducted flavonoid-targeted metabolic profiling among 14 populations of A. squarrosum collected from regions with different altitudes based on a common garden experiment. Results showed that the most abundant flavonoid in A. squarrosum was isorhamnetin (48.40%, 557.45 μg/g), followed by quercetin (13.04%, 150.15 μg/g), tricin (11.17%, 128.70 μg/g), isoquercitrin (7.59%, 87.42 μg/g), isovitexin (7.20%, 82.94 μg/g), and rutin (7.00%, 80.62 μg/g). However, based on a common garden at middle-altitude environment, almost none of the flavonoids was enriched in the high-altitude populations, and even some flavonoids, such as quercetin, tricin, and rutin, were significantly enriched in low-altitude populations. This phenomenon indicated that the accumulation of flavonoids was not a result of local adaptation to high altitude. Furthermore, association analysis with in situ environmental variables showed that the contents of quercetin, tricin, and rutin were strongly positively correlated with latitude, longitude, and precipitation gradients and negatively correlated with temperature gradients. Thus, we could conclude that the accumulations of flavonoids in A. squarrosum were more likely as a result of local adaption to environmental heterogeneity combined with precipitation and temperature other than high altitude. This study not only provides an example to understand the molecular ecological basis of pharmacognosy, but also supplies methodologies for developing a new industrial crop with ecological and agricultural importance.