title: Differences in shoot and root terpenoid profiles and plant responses to fertilisation in Tanacetum vulgare.
abstract: Intraspecific chemical diversity is a common phenomenon especially found in shoots of essential oil-accumulating plant species. Abiotic factors can influence the concentration of essential oils, but the effects are inconsistent and little is known in how far these may vary within an individual and within species between chemotypes. Tanacetum vulgare L. occurs in various chemotypes that differ in the composition of mono- and sesquiterpenoids in their shoot tissues. We investigated how far shoot chemotype grouping is mirrored in root terpenoid profiles. Furthermore, we studied whether different fertilisation amounts influence the plant growth and morphological traits as well as the constitutive terpenoid concentration of leaves and roots of three chemotypes, trans-carvyl acetate, β-thujone, and camphor, to different degrees. Shoot terpenoids were dominated by monoterpenoids, while the roots contained mainly sesquiterpenoids. The clear grouping in three chemotypes based on leaf chemistry was weakly mirrored in the root terpenoid composition. Furthermore, the leaf C/N ratio and the stem height differed between chemotypes. All plants responded to increased nutrient availability with increased total biomass and specific leaf area but decreased C/N and root/shoot ratios. Leaf terpenoid concentrations decreased with increasing fertiliser supply, independent of chemotype. In contrast to the leaves, the terpenoid concentrations of the roots were unaffected by fertilisation. Our results demonstrate that aboveground and belowground organs within a species can be under different selection pressures.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Ecology, Bielefeld University, Universitätsstr. 25, 33615 Bielefeld, Germany. Electronic address: sandra.kleine@uni-bielefeld.de.
authors.forename: Sandra
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kleine
authors.forename: Caroline
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Müller
mesh_terms: D000081008:Bicyclic Monoterpenes; D005306:Fertilization / Q000187:drug effects; D008401:Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry; D015394:Molecular Structure; D039821:Monoterpenes / Q000032:analysis*; D009822:Oils, Volatile / Q000032:analysis* / Q000737:chemistry; D018515:Plant Leaves / Q000737:chemistry; D010938:Plant Oils / Q000032:analysis / Q000737:chemistry; D018517:Plant Roots / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D018547:Plant Stems / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D013237:Stereoisomerism; D031203:Tanacetum / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism; D013729:Terpenes / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D000081008:Bicyclic Monoterpenes; D039821:Monoterpenes; D009822:Oils, Volatile; D010938:Plant Oils; D013729:Terpenes; C005790:beta-thujone
keywords: Asteraceae; Chemotype; Fertilisation treatment; GC–MS; Metabolite profiling; Tanacetum vulgare; Terpenoid