Exploring chemical differences in five subpopulations of Hieracium pilosella L. by HPLC-ESI-MS/MS and comparison with genetic variability

The project PARMA (ARomatic and Medicinal Plants of the Alps) is intended to stimulate the cultivation of five officinal plants from the Trentino region (Italy). However, the first step is their characterization in terms of genetic variability as well as concerning their content of active principles. In European traditional medicine [1], the infusion from the whole fresh plants of Hieracium pilosella L. is used as diuretic or in the treatment of rheumatic forms of renal and vesical affections. A preliminary investigation on 10 different accessions of H. pilosella was performed by the technique of microsatellite markers. The Valpiana location (Val di Sole) was divided into five plots, each having approximately the same area and corresponding to a plant community: A, B, C, D and E. The microsatellite analysis revealed high genetic variation among and between these subpopulations. Then, a quantitative evaluation of three classes of natural products (phenolic acids, coumarins, flavonoids) was undertaken in order to assess chemical diversity within those subpopulations at Valpiana. The content in metabolites among the five samples of fresh aerial parts was obtained by using LC-ESI-MS/MS. To give a couple of results, luteolin ranged between 1.3 and 0.50mg/g fresh plant material and umbelliferone between 0.52 and 0.32mg/g whereas values between 0.54 and 0.26mg/g were found for chlorogenic acid. In addition, we observed steady low or high amounts of all the examined compounds for the same subpopulation sample. Our data are in accordance with those reported in the literature [2].

Acknowledgement: This work has been supported by the grant of Provincia Autonoma di Trento, 9^th July 2004 no. 1587

References: [1] Fournier P. (1948) Le livre des plantes médicinales et vénéneuses de France. P. Lechevalier Ed. Paris. [2] Zidorn, C. et al. (2002) Plant Systematics and Evolution 231: 39–58