Seasonal Changes and Effect of Harvest on Glucosinolates in Isatis leaves

Abstract

The seasonal fluctuation of glucosinolates in five defined Isatis tinctoria and one Isatis indigotica accessions (first year, rosette stage), grown on field plots under identical conditions, was investigated. Analysis of the intact glucosinolates was carried out with shock frozen, freeze dried leaf samples using a recently developed and validated PLE (pressurized liquid extraction) protocol and ion-pair HPLC coupled with ESI-MS in the negative mode. When comparing the two Isatis species, significant qualitative and quantitative differences in the glucosinolate patterns were observed. Differences among the various Isatis tinctoria accessions were much smaller. We studied the effects of repeated harvesting during the growth season on glucosinolate concentrations and found that repeated harvest did not have a major effect on glucosinolate concentrations of newly grown leaves. Glucosinolates could not be detected in woad leaves submitted to conventional drying.

Abbreviations

AFLP:amplified fragment length polymorphism

BPC:base peak chromatogram

COX2:cyclooxygenase 2

EIC:extracted ion chromatogram

FW:”French woad”

IS:internal standard

JW:”Jenaer Waid”

KW:”Kieler Waid”

5-LOX:5-lipoxygenase

PLE:pressurized liquid extraction

SW:”Swiss woad”

TW:”Thüringer Waid”

TCM:Traditional Chinese Medicine

TLL:Agricultural Research Station of Thuringia

Key words

Isatis tinctoria - Isatis indigotica - Brassicaceae - seasonal variation - harvest - glucosinolates

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