Chemotaxonomic study of Citrus, Poncirus and Fortunella genotypes based on peel oil volatile compounds--deciphering the genetic origin of Mangshanyegan (Citrus nobilis Lauriro)

PLoS One. 2013;8(3):e58411. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0058411. Epub 2013 Mar 13.

Abstract

Volatile profiles yielded from gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis provide abundant information not only for metabolism-related research, but also for chemotaxonomy. To study the chemotaxonomy of Mangshanyegan, its volatile profiles of fruit and leaf and those of 29 other genotypes of Citrus, Poncirus, and Fortunella were subjected to phylogenetic analyses. Results showed that 145 identified (including 64 tentatively identified) and 15 unidentified volatile compounds were detected from their peel oils. The phylogenetic analysis of peel oils based on hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) demonstrated a good agreement with the Swingle taxonomy system, in which the three genera of Citrus, Poncirus, and Fortunella were almost completely separated. As to Citrus, HCA indicated that Citrophorum, Cephalocitrus, and Sinocitrus fell into three subgroups, respectively. Also, it revealed that Mangshanyegan contain volatile compounds similar to those from pummelo, though it is genetically believed to be a mandarin. These results were further supported by the principal component analysis of the peel oils and the HCA results of volatile profiles of leaves in the study.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Citrus / chemistry*
  • Citrus / genetics*
  • Cluster Analysis
  • Genotype*
  • Oils, Volatile / chemistry*
  • Plant Leaves / chemistry
  • Poncirus / chemistry*
  • Poncirus / genetics*
  • Principal Component Analysis
  • Rutaceae / chemistry*
  • Rutaceae / metabolism*

Substances

  • Oils, Volatile

Grants and funding

This research was financially supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (grant 2011CB100600), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant 31272122), and The Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (grant 2012MBDX006). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.