Toxic Ipomeamarone Accumulation in Healthy ... - ACS Publications

RNAi-based gene silencing through dsRNA injection or ingestion against the African sweet potato weevil Cylas puncticollis (Coleoptera: Brentidae). Kat...
0 downloads 0 Views 1MB Size
Subscriber access provided by - Access paid by the | UCSF Library

Article

Toxic Ipomeamarone Accumulation in Healthy Parts of Sweetpotato (Ipomoea batatas L. Lam) Storage Roots on Infection by Rhizopus stolonifer Lydia Nanjala Wamalwa, Xavier Cheseto, Elizabeth Ouna, Fatma Kaplan, Nguya Maniania, Jesse Machuka, Baldwyn Torto, and Marc Ghislain J. Agric. Food Chem., Just Accepted Manuscript • Publication Date (Web): 24 Nov 2014 Downloaded from http://pubs.acs.org on November 27, 2014

Just Accepted “Just Accepted” manuscripts have been peer-reviewed and accepted for publication. They are posted online prior to technical editing, formatting for publication and author proofing. The American Chemical Society provides “Just Accepted” as a free service to the research community to expedite the dissemination of scientific material as soon as possible after acceptance. “Just Accepted” manuscripts appear in full in PDF format accompanied by an HTML abstract. “Just Accepted” manuscripts have been fully peer reviewed, but should not be considered the official version of record. They are accessible to all readers and citable by the Digital Object Identifier (DOI®). “Just Accepted” is an optional service offered to authors. Therefore, the “Just Accepted” Web site may not include all articles that will be published in the journal. After a manuscript is technically edited and formatted, it will be removed from the “Just Accepted” Web site and published as an ASAP article. Note that technical editing may introduce minor changes to the manuscript text and/or graphics which could affect content, and all legal disclaimers and ethical guidelines that apply to the journal pertain. ACS cannot be held responsible for errors or consequences arising from the use of information contained in these “Just Accepted” manuscripts.

Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry is published by the American Chemical Society. 1155 Sixteenth Street N.W., Washington, DC 20036 Published by American Chemical Society. Copyright © American Chemical Society. However, no copyright claim is made to original U.S. Government works, or works produced by employees of any Commonwealth realm Crown government in the course of their duties.

Page 1 of 28

Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry

1

Toxic Ipomeamarone Accumulation in Healthy Parts of Sweetpotato (Ipomoea batatas L.

2

Lam) Storage Roots on Infection by Rhizopus stolonifer

3

4

Lydia N. Wamalwa†,#; Xavier Cheseto‡; Elizabeth Ouna‡; Fatma Kaplan§,ζ; Nguya K.

5

Maniania‡; Jesse Machuka#; Baldwyn Torto‡; Marc Ghislain*†

6

7



International Potato Centre, P.O. Box 25171-00603 Nairobi, Kenya

8



International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE) - African Insect Science for

9

Food and Health P.O. Box 30772-00100 Nairobi, Kenya

10

§

Department of Biology, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, USA

11

#

Kenyatta University, P.O. Box 43844-00100 Nairobi, Kenya

12

ζ

Kaplan Schiller Research, LLC., Gainesville, Florida, USA

13 14

*Corresponding author

15

Phone: 254 (020) 4223641; Fax: 254 (020 4223600); Email: [email protected]

16 17

1

ACS Paragon Plus Environment

Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry

Page 2 of 28

18

Abstract

19

Furanoterpenoid accumulation in response to microbial attack in rotting sweetpotatoes has long

20

been linked to deaths and lung edema of cattle in the world. However, it is not known whether

21

furanoterpenoid, ipomeamarone accumulates in the healthy-looking parts of infected sweetpotato

22

storage roots. This is critical for effective utilization as animal feed and assessing the potential

23

negative impact on human health. Therefore, we first identified the fungus from infected

24

sweetpotatoes as MI-1 (Rhizopus stolonifer) and then infected healthy sweetpotato samples to

25

determine furanoterpenoid content. Ipomeamarone and its precursor, dehydroipomeamarone,

26

were identified through spectroscopic analyses and its concentration was at toxic levels in

27

healthy-looking regions. Dehydroipomeamarone and ipomeamarone were detected in all the

28

samples and controls at varying concentrations. Our study provides fundamental information on

29

furanoterpenoids in relation to high levels reported that could subsequently affect cattle on

30

consumption and high ipomeamarone levels in healthy-looking tissues.

31

32

Keywords: Sweetpotato, furanoterpenoids, ipomeamarone, animal and human health safety,

33

Rhizopus stolonifer

34

35

36

2

ACS Paragon Plus Environment

Page 3 of 28

Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry

37

Introduction

38

Despite the prevalence of respiratory infections and deaths relating to furanoterpenoids on global

39

health of cattle and possibly humans, the concentration levels of these compounds in diseased

40

and healthy-looking tissues of infected sweetpotatoes is poorly understood and insufficiently

41

documented. Phytoalexins are inducible metabolites elicited by biotic and abiotic factors.

42

Sweetpotato elicits several phytoalexins, collectively known as furanoterpenoids including

43

ipomeamarone, 1, dehydroipomeamarone, 2, 4-ipomeanol, 3, and 1,4-ipomeadiol, 4 (Figure 1).1,

44

2

45

cause hepatoxicity, pneumonia, lung edema

46

furanoterpenoids is available on isolation methods 7 and its presence in sweetpotatoes 2, 8 there is

47

no documented or accessible information on variation of the concentrations from inoculation

48

point on towards healthy-looking tissues of an infected sample. This is important because in sub-

49

Saharan Africa (SSA), the sweetpotato is a food crop for many rural poor families whereby both

50

healthy and infected sweetpotato storage roots are harvested together. The infected parts are

51

usually removed and fed to farm animals while the remaining apparently healthy parts are

52

consumed by the farm households, typically in western Kenya (Dr. Robert Mwanga, sweetpotato

53

breeder, personal communication).

54

Sweetpotato is ranked the third most important root and tuber crop after potato and cassava in

55

SSA. As a food crop, sweetpotato is used by many poor families due to the higher yield in dry

56

matter content per unit area compared to cereal cultivation on an equivalent piece of land.9 In

57

addition, sweetpotatoes are particularly important during dry periods of the year when cereal

58

crops are unavailable.9 Unfortunately, it is the same dry period that the crop is attacked by

59

insects and microbes.10, 11 It is also known that farmers in SSA practice piece-meal harvesting,

Biotic factors such as fungi are reported to elicit varying levels of furanoterpenoids,2 which 3-5

and cattle deaths.6 Although information on

3

ACS Paragon Plus Environment

Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry

Page 4 of 28

60

which exacerbates the storage roots left in the soil during dry seasons to exposure to insects and

61

microbes.12 Farmers who harvest sweetpotato storage roots for sale are faced with post-harvest

62

infection. At post-harvest, microbes attack the storage roots owing to the favorable warm

63

conditions and bruising caused by handling.13 Storage roots respond to attack by eliciting

64

production of furanoterpenoids to fight off the infection within the sweetpotato plant. The total

65

furanoterpenoid level range of three compounds was documented between 25-67,000 mg/kg in

66

harvested storage root samples irrespective of the microbe that elicited this.1,

67

radioactivity to analyze ipomeamarone levels has been done but more sensitive techniques such

68

as coupled liquid chromatography-quadruple time of flight mass spectrometry (LC-QToF-MS)

69

and coupled gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) are needed.14

70

It is not known how far into the healthy-looking storage root samples that these furanoterpenoids

71

are found and at what levels. Since this has a potential to expose both humans and farm animals

72

to either chronic or acute toxicity, we (i) isolated and identified a fungus from the field samples

73

that elicited furanoterpenoid production; (ii) characterized the furanoterpenoids using GC-MS

74

and LC-Qtof-MS; (iii) evaluated the furanoterpenoid concentration levels produced for different

75

sweetpotato cultivars after infection by the isolated fungus; and (iv) determined the

76

furanoterpenoid levels within the apparently healthy part of an infected storage root.

77

Materials and Methods

78

Plant Materials

79

Two types of sweetpotato (Ipomoea batatas L. Lam.) samples were used to analyze for

80

ipomeamarone concentrations: weevil-infected sweetpotatoes for fungal isolation and healthy

81

sweetpotatoes for inoculation experiments with the isolated fungus. Healthy sweetpotatoes were

2

The use of

4

ACS Paragon Plus Environment

Page 5 of 28

Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry

82

purchased from markets in Nairobi, Kenya and were classified by the vendors as Kemb, Naspot,

83

Bungoma and Nyawo cultivars. Weevil-infested sweetpotato storage roots were sampled from a

84

farm at the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI), Marigat, Kenya, during the dry season

85

when infestation was high. Sampled storage roots were carefully placed in covered but aerated

86

plastic jars (20.5 x 10.5 cm) immediately after harvest and then incubated at 25-28 °C for 5 d to

87

promote growth of microbes.

88

Isolation and identification of Fungus from Weevil-infested Sweetpotatoes

89

Isolation was carried out from fully-infected storage roots in jars by using a pin and plated on

90

potato dextrose agar (PDA) (Oxoid, Hampshire, England) media supplemented with 50 µg/mL

91

streptomycin sulfate (Sigma, St. Louis, MO) and chloramphenicol (25 µg/mL) (Sigma, St. Louis,

92

MO) to inhibit bacterial growth. Plates were incubated overnight at 25 °C during which several

93

colonies emerged. Single colonies were isolated and sub-cultured on PDA without antibiotics.

94

There was a colony that was consistent on all the PDA plates and was named Marigat isolate-1

95

(MI-1). It was identified using both morphological and molecular characterization. For

96

morphological identification, fungal isolation technique, previously described was used.15 The

97

PDA plate was inoculated using a sterile needle. A sterile glass coverslip was placed in oblique

98

position on the culture and plates were incubated at 25 °C for 4-6 d. From day 2 onwards,

99

coverslips were removed daily and mounted on a slide stained with lactophenol aniline blue

100

(Sigma-Aldrich, St. Louis, MO). The coverslips were examined using a light microscope (Leica,

101

Wetzlar, Germany) at the magnification ×8 and ×40.

102

Molecular characterization of MI-1 was initiated by isolation of genomic DNA using CTAB

103

method from mycelia grown on PDA plates.16 PCR was conducted using internal transcribed

5

ACS Paragon Plus Environment

Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry

Page 6 of 28

104

spacers (ITS) primer pairs.17 Non-specific PCR products generated, were further subjected to

105

band-stab PCR.18 The PCR comprised of a 25 µL reaction consisting of PCR buffer (1x), ITS1

106

primer (0.2 µM), ITS4 primer (0.2 µM), dNTPs (0.06 mM), MgCl2 (2 mM), Taq polymerase (0.5

107

U) (Thermo Scientific, Wyman, MA). The primer sequences for ITS1 and ITS4 were 5'

108

TCCGTAGGTGAACCTGCGG 3' and 5' TCCTCCGCTTATTGATATGC 3', respectively.17

109

This reaction mix was subjected to the following PCR program: initial denaturation 94°C for 5

110

min, followed by 40 cycles of denaturation 94 °C for 45 s, annealing temperature 60 °C for 30 s,

111

elongation 72 °C for 90 s and a final elongation of 72 °C for 6 min. PCR was conducted on

112

several other microbes to verify that the amplicon generated from MI-1 was not present in other

113

microbes or if present, it was not of a similar size. The microbes included were as follows: MI-1;

114

Metarhizium anisopliae IC30 from ICIPE; Ceratocystis fimbriata f. sp. platani (CBS 127659);

115

Clavibacter michiganensis ssp. michiganensis; Catharanthus roseus containing Udinese-Stolbur

116

phytoplasma from CBS-KNAW Fungal Biodiversity Centre (Utrecht, the Netherlands) and an

117

unknown fungus culture collected from potato fields were grown on PDA media containing

118

streptomycin sulfate. PCR products were resolved on 1% agarose gel in TBE for 1 h at 100V.

119

PCR products were purified using QIAquick PCR Purification Kit (Qiagen, Hilden, Germany)

120

and Gel Extraction kit (Qiagen, Hilden, Germany). Purified PCR products were sequenced using

121

GS-FLX 454 platform (454 Life Sciences/Roche, Bradford, CT).

122

Extraction and Identification of Furanoterpenoids from Fungal-Infected Sweetpotatoes

123

The storage root samples were prepared using a previously described method2 with few

124

modifications. Healthy storage roots from sweetpotato cultivars namely Kemb, Naspot, Nyawo

125

and Bungoma were washed, surface sterilized for 5 min using 0.5% sodium hypochlorite and

126

rinsed 3 times in sterile distilled water in a laminar flow hood. In the first experiment, the storage

6

ACS Paragon Plus Environment

Page 7 of 28

Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry

127

root samples were cut into halves and placed in clean sterile plastic containers before inoculating

128

them with actively growing fungal isolate (MI-1) from agar plugs while the controls were not

129

inoculated. The sweetpotato samples (both inoculated and non-inoculated) were replicated three

130

times for each cultivar. The second experiment consisted of inoculating Kemb and Naspot

131

cultivars using MI-1 and the storage roots were tied with polythene and elastic bags to restrict

132

growth of the fungus. The storage roots were incubated at 25 °C for 7-14 d for infection. This

133

second experiment consisted of 2 cultivars, Kemb and Naspot with 7 samples. Each sample was

134

chopped into 1-cm slices to analyze furanoterpenoid levels from infection point to the healthy-

135

looking tissue. Differences between means were calculated using Student Newman Keuls test.

136

The fungus covering sweetpotato were scraped off. The storage roots were then weighed and

137

blended in 100 mL methanol and 3g NaCl for 3 min. For isolation and purification of

138

dehydroipomeamarone and ipomeamarone, 268g of infected sweet potato was extracted with 550

139

mL of methanol. The extracts were filtered using Whatman filter paper No. 4, poured in conical

140

flasks and then concentrated in a rotary evaporator to remove methanol and water. The volume

141

of concentrated crude extract was estimated as 10 mL and the same volume of 10 mL

142

dichloromethane (Sigma, St. Louis, MO) was added to effectively double the volume of the

143

extract for each flask. The organic phases were combined, concentrated to dryness in a rotary

144

evaporator to remove any remaining solvents from the crude extract, weighed and then purified

145

by chromatography.

146

Fifteen grams of the extracted materials were chromatographed on 32-63 µm silica gel (Riedel-

147

de Haen, Seelze, Germany) using a hexane-ethyl acetate gradient. The furanoterpenoids fraction

148

eluted with 90% hexane: ethyl acetate which was further cleaned by column chromatography

149

using a hexane-acetone gradient to yield ipomeamarone mix (1g). Further purification of the 7

ACS Paragon Plus Environment

Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry

Page 8 of 28

150

eluent was carried out on a Shimadzu VP series using a 205 mm x 10 mm i.d., 5 µM ACE Q C-

151

18 column (ACE, Aberdeen, Scotland). The mobile phase used an isocratic program (A:B),

152

60:40 with a flow rate of 1 mL/min and run time was 20 min. Detection was by UV absorption at

153

270 nm to obtain 18 mg ipomeamarone and 15 mg dehydroipomeamarone with percentage yield

154

being 0.12% and 0.10%, respectively (Figure 2). Structures of the isolated furanoterpenoids were

155

determined by means of chromatographic and spectroscopic techniques (LC-QToF-MS, GC-MS

156

and 1- and 2-D NMR) and by comparison with spectroscopic literature data.1, 19

157

For GC-MS analyses, the furanoterpenoids fractions was analyzed by split/splitless injection

158

using a model 7890 gas chromatograph coupled to a 5975C inert XL EI/CI mass spectrometer

159

(Agilent technologies, Palo Alto, CA) (GC-MS) equipped with a 30 m × 0.25 mm i.d. × 0.25 µm

160

film thickness HP-5 column (El 70eV) (Agilent technologies, Palo Alto, CA). Helium was used

161

as the carrier gas at a flow rate of 1.2 mL/min. The oven temperature was held at 35 °C for 3

162

min, then programmed to increase at 10 °C/min to 280 °C and maintained at this temperature for

163

10 min. The target peaks were identified through comparison of their mass spectra with

164

Adams2.L, Chemecol.L and NIST05a.L library data (Figure 3).

165

For LC-QToF-MS analyses, the crude extract was concentrated in vacuo to dryness and then re-

166

dissolved in 3 mL LC-MS grade CHROMASOLV methanol (Sigma-Aldrich, St. Louis, MO),

167

centrifuged at 14,000 rpm for 5 min after which 0.5 µL was automatically injected into LC-

168

QToF-MS. The chromatographic separation was achieved on a Waters ACQUITY UPLC (ultra-

169

performance liquid chromatography) I-class system (Waters Corporation, Maple Street, MA)

170

fitted with a 2.1 mm × 100 mm, 1.7-µm particle size Waters ACQUITY UPLC BEH C18

171

column (Waters Corporation, Dublin, Ireland) heated to 40 °C and an auto sampler tray cooled to

172

15 °C. Mobile phases of water (A) and acetonitrile (B), each with 0.01% formic acid were

8

ACS Paragon Plus Environment

Page 9 of 28

Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry

173

employed. The following gradient was used 0-1.5 min, 10% B; 1.5-2 min, 10−50% B; 2-6 min,

174

50-100% B; 6-9 min, 100% B; 9-10 min, 90-10%; 10-12 min, 10% B. The flow rate was held

175

constant at 0.4 mL/min. The UPLC system was interfaced by electrospray ionization (ESI) to a

176

Waters Xevo QToF-MS operated in full scan MSE in positive mode. Data were acquired in

177

resolution mode over the m/z range 100-1200 with a scan time of 1 s using a capillary voltage of

178

0.5 kV, sampling cone voltage of 40 V, source temperature 100 °C and desolvation temperature

179

of 350 °C. The nitrogen desolvation flow rate was 500 L/h. For the high-energy scan function, a

180

collision energy ramp of 25-45 eV was applied in the T-wave collision cell using ultrahigh purity

181

argon (≥99.999%) as the collision gas. A continuous lock spray reference compound (leucine

182

enkephalin; [M+H] +=556.2766) was sampled at 10 s intervals for centroid data mass correction.

183

The mass spectrometer was calibrated across the 50-1,200 Da mass range using a 0.5 mM

184

sodium formate solution prepared in 90:10 2-propanol/water (v/v). MassLynx version 4.1 SCN

185

712 (Waters Corporation, Maple Street, MA) was used for data acquisition and processing. The

186

elemental composition was generated for every analyte. Potential assignments were calculated

187

using mono-isotopic masses with specifications of a tolerance of 10 ppm deviation and both odd-

188

and even-electron states possible. The number and types of expected atoms was set as follows:

189

carbon ≤ 100; hydrogen ≤ 100; oxygen ≤ 50; nitrogen ≤ 6; sulfur ≤ 6. The LC-Qtof-Ms data

190

acquisition and analysis was based on the following defined parameters: Mass accuracy (ppm) =

191

1,000,000 × (calculated mass − accurate mass)/calculated mass; Fit conf % is the confidence

192

with which accurate mass (measured data) matches the theoretical isotope models of the

193

elemental composition in the list; Elemental composition is a suggested formula for the specified

194

mass. This is a summation of the quantities of elements, isotopes, and/or super-atoms that can

195

compose the measured data, calculated using the following atomic masses of the most abundant

9

ACS Paragon Plus Environment

Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry

Page 10 of 28

196

isotope of the elements: C = 12.0000000, H = 1.0078250, N = 14.0030740, O = 15.9949146, and

197

S = 31.9720718. The empirical formula generated was used to predict structures which were

198

proposed based on the online database, fragmentation pattern and literature.

199

In order to verify the identity of these peaks, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) was done. The

200

isolated and purified ipomeamarone and dehydroipomeamarone samples (5 mg each) were each

201

dissolved in CDCl3 (Cambridge Isotope Laboratories, Tewksbury, MA) and placed in 2.5-mm x

202

100-mm MATCH NMR tubes (Norell, Landisville, NJ). 1D and 2D 1H and

203

spectroscopy, including correlation spectroscopy (COSY), heteronuclear single-quantum

204

coherence (HSQC) and heteronuclear multiple-bond correlation (HMBC) spectroscopy, was used

205

for verification. For the dehydroipomeamarone, 2D nuclear Overhauser effect spectroscopy

206

(NOESY) data was collected and analyzed for additional structural verification. All NMR

207

spectra were acquired at 22 °C using a 5-mm TXI CryoProbe (Bruker Corporation, Billerica,

208

MA) and a Bruker Avance II 600 console (600 MHz for 1H and 151 MHz for 13C) except for 2D

209

NOESY data which was collected at 25°C. Residual CHCl3 was used to reference chemical shifts

210

to δ 7.26 ppm for 1H, and δ C1 of ipomeamarone is referenced to 72.6 ppm for 13C in the HSQC

211

spectrum by a previous report for consistency with the literature.20 We also checked the residual

212

CHCl3 in CDCl3 for

213

according to a previous study.21 NMR spectra were processed using Bruker Topspin 2.0 and

214

MestReNova (Mestrelab Research) software packages.

215

Quantitation of Furanoterpenoids in Sweetpotato Samples

216

LC-QToF-MS in full scan MSE in positive mode was used to detect furanoterpenoids in extracts

217

based on accurate mass measurement, retention time, fragmentation pattern and reference spectra

218

database published online of isolated dehydroipomeamarone and ipomeamarone (standards).22

13

C NMR

13

C in the HSQC spectra to confirm that it was properly referenced

10

ACS Paragon Plus Environment

Page 11 of 28

Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry

219

Dehydroipomeamarone and ipomeamarone were quantitated using generated standard calibration

220

curves prepared from the isolated compounds. Serially diluted solutions of isolated standards

221

(0.01-200 µg/µL) were analyzed by LC-QToF-MS to generate linear calibration curves (peak

222

area

223

dehydroipomeamarone [y=324980x+177617 (R2= 0.9995)] which served as the basis for

224

external quantitation.

225

Results and Discussion

226

Identification of MI-1 as Rhizopus stolonifer

227

Identification of MI-1 fungus isolated from the field-collected sweetpotato storage roots was

228

conducted because different microbes elicit varying furanoterpenoid responses.2 Based on

229

morphological features (sporangia, sporangiophores, spores, collumella, rhizoids and stolons);

230

sporangiophores arising from intersections with rhizoids and stolons; the dome-shaped columella

231

and not falling off when the sporangium dried out, MI-1 was identified belonging to the genus

232

Rhizopus. Morphological features of MI-1 had similarities to previously reported R. stolonifer.23,

233

24

234

species as previously reported as follows: R. oryzae has an ellipsoidal collumella; R. sexualis, a

235

conical-cylindrical shape and R. microspores, a sub-globose to conical shape.25 From these

236

observations, it was appropriate to suggest that MI-1 fungus was R. stolonifer.

237

The morphological features of Rhizopus further confirmed by molecular evidence enabled us

238

identify the species. The ITS primer pair generated an amplicon of 950 bp for MI-1 fungus; none

239

of the other species in this study had a similar band size as MI-1. Metarhizium anisopliae IC30

240

had a band of 600 bp. Sequencing generated a number of reads but searches were conducted

241

using sequences longer than 200 bp, based on non-redundant database of NCBI, producing 100

vs.

concentration)

for

ipomeamarone

[y=583064x+642221

(R2=0.9991)]

and

The major finding was the collumella being dome-shaped, which differed from other Rhizopus

11

ACS Paragon Plus Environment

Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry

Page 12 of 28

242

hits. These hits were mainly ITS1, ITS2, 5.8S, 18S and 28S fragments with partial or complete

243

length sequences; the top 19 hits based on e-value were Rhizopus stolonifer. They had sequence

244

similarity of 91-99% with e-values between 0 to 9×10-162. The best alignment to MI-1 was isolate

245

AM933546.1 having a sequence identity of 98% and an e-level of 0. The R. stolonifer isolate had

246

a partial sequence of 18S rRNA gene, ITS1, 5.8S rRNA gene, ITS2 and partial sequence of 28S

247

rRNA gene. Molecular characterization using ITS primers confirmed that MI-1 fungus was R.

248

stolonifer: such primers have previously been used in R. stolonifer identification.16

249

Chromatographic and Spectroscopic Techniques Confirmed Presence of Furanoterpenoids

250

The furanoterpenoids ipomeamarone and dehydroipomeamarone were successfully identified

251

using HPLC, GC-MS, LC-QToF-MS, 1D and 2D NMR techniques by comparing their

252

resonances to published data.20,

253

ipomeamarone and dehydroipomeamarone eluting at 16.4 and 11.6 min, respectively. GC-MS

254

analysis also revealed 6 peaks, and tentatively identified 2 of these peaks as ipomeamarone, 1, at

255

a retention time (Rt) of 20.8 min and dehydroipomeamarone, 2, at Rt of 21.4 min (Figure 3). LC-

256

QToF-MS analysis also identified the 2 peaks as ipomeamarone (with elemental composition,

257

C15H23O3; m/z 251.1647, 0.0 ppm error to theoretical value and a fit conf % of 99.96) at a

258

retention time (Rt) of 2.87 min and dehydroipomeamarone, (with elemental composition,

259

C15H21O3; m/z 249.1491, 2.0 ppm error to theoretical value and a fit conf % of 98.78) at a

260

retention time (Rt) of 3.04 min. These results were consistent with GC-MS analysis.

261

The HPLC purified peaks analyzed by NMR confirmed the presence of ipomeamarone and

262

dehydroipomeamarone. 1H chemical shifts of ipomeamarone was in agreement with literature

263

while dehydroipomeamarone was a mixture based on LC-QToF-MS and NMR data.20, 27 For the

21, 26, 27

The HPLC analysis (Figure 2) showed 6 peaks with

12

ACS Paragon Plus Environment

Page 13 of 28

Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry

264

dehydroipomeamarone, we observed the 1H chemical shifts at positions C-7 as 6.15 ppm (1H),

265

C-9 as 2.13 ppm (3H), C-10 as 1.85 ppm (3H) which were the only 1H chemical shifts as

266

provided by previous workers.27 These workers reported the 1H chemical shifts for positions C-7

267

as 6.11ppm (1H), C-9 as 2.09 ppm (3H), C-10 as 1.81 ppm (3H), and all of the other 1H chemical

268

shifts were similar to ipomeamarone.27 Unfortunately, these three 1H chemical shifts differed

269

0.04 ppm between our spectrum and previously reported data.27 Since the dehydroipomeamarone

270

sample was a mixture, having just 1H 1D NMR was not satisfactory to confirm the presence of

271

dehydroipomeamarone. Unfortunately, previous workers did not provide any information about

272

NMR solvent or 13C chemical shift data for the synthetic dehydroipomeamarone.27 Therefore, we

273

acquired a 2D NMR (COSY, HSQC, HMBC, NOESY) spectrum for dehydroipomeamarone and

274

ipomeamarone samples to compare the

275

derivative of ipomeamarone, which we confirmed using 1H NMR. Ipomeamarone 2D NMR data

276

was used for comparison. Both 1H and

277

similar to ipomeamarone for carbon positions from 1' to 4' and from 1 to 6, but differed at

278

positions 7, 8, 9 and 10: consistent with the structure. NOESY data for dehydroipomeamarone

279

provided us additional evidence to confirm dehydroipomeamarone hence identification.

280

Variations in Ipomeamarone Concentrations between and within Cultivars

281

The main furanoterpenoids produced were ipomeamarone, 1, and dehydroipomeamarone, 2,

282

found in all samples and non-inoculated controls. The concentration of furanoterpenoid ranged

283

between 50.6-2,330 mg/kg for inoculated samples while 12.4-144.5 mg/kg for the controls.

284

These high levels exceeded those reported previously for R. stolonifer of 200-1,100 mg/kg but

285

comparable to high ipomeamarone elicitors such as C. fimbriata and Fusarium solani with levels

286

from 1,100-9,300 mg/kg.2 Similar results have been reported on non-infected sweetpotatoes with

13

C chemical shifts, since dehydroipomeamarone is a

13

C chemical shifts of dehydroipomeamarone were

13

ACS Paragon Plus Environment

Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry

Page 14 of 28

287

low ipomeamarone concentrations between 40-325 mg/kg for cultivars in the United Kingdom.8

288

Generally, mechanical injury or damaged but non-infected sweetpotato is reported to elicit low

289

furanoterpenoid levels while infected samples have high levels due to increase in enzyme

290

activity, correlating to furanoterpenoid production.28, 29 The low ipomeamarone levels in storage

291

roots of negative control samples from this study confirm that injury or bruising of sweetpotato

292

roots occurs but the ipomeamarone levels are low.

293

Concentration levels for ipomeamarone ranged between 50.6-2126.7 mg/kg while 39.3-2,230.4

294

mg/kg for dehydroipomeamarone. The higher dehydroipomeamarone levels could possibly be

295

because it is a precursor of ipomeamarone, which meant that it was yet to be enzymatically

296

converted to ipomeamarone or dehydroipomeamarone might have inhibited production of

297

ipomeamarone to some extent as reported previously.1 In preliminary experiments (not shown),

298

ipomeamarone levels were high in inoculated samples, probably due to long incubation time of

299

28 d compared to the current study where inoculation ranged between 7-14 d. More research

300

needs to be conducted to verify this.

301

Variations in mean ipomeamarone levels for the cultivars were as follows: Kemb had the highest

302

mean 1,476.2 mg/kg followed by Nyawo with 1,089.9 mg/kg, Naspot had 833.7 mg/kg while

303

Bungoma had 676.5 mg/kg (Table 1). High concentrations of dehydroipomeamarone were also

304

observed in almost all samples in this study: Kemb had the highest with 1,462.6 mg/kg, Nyawo

305

had 1,459.7 mg/kg, Naspot had 1,153.2 mg/kg while Bungoma had 910 mg/kg (Table 1). There

306

were significant (p