Molecules, Vol. 25, Pages 3964: MALDI-HRMS Imaging Maps the Localization of Skyrin, the Precursor of Hypericin, and Pathway Intermediates in Leaves of Hypericum Species

Molecules, Vol. 25, Pages 3964: MALDI-HRMS Imaging Maps the Localization of Skyrin, the Precursor of Hypericin, and Pathway Intermediates in Leaves of Hypericum Species Molecules doi: 10.3390/molecules25173964 Authors: Bharadwaj Revuru Miroslava Bálintová Jana Henzelyová Eva Čellárová Souvik Kusari Hypericum perforatum and related species (Hypericaceae) are a reservoir of pharmacologically important secondary metabolites, including the well-known naphthodianthrone hypericin. However, the exact biosynthetic steps in the hypericin biosynthetic pathway, vis-à-vis the essential precursors and their localization in plants, remain unestablished. Recently, we proposed a novel biosynthetic pathway of hypericin, not through emodin and emodin anthrone, but skyrin. However, the localization of skyrin and its precursors in Hypericum plants, as well as the correlation between their spatial distribution with the hypericin pathway intermediates and the produced naphthodianthrones, are not known. Herein, we report the spatial distribution of skyrin and its precursors in leaves of five in vitro cultivated Hypericum plant species concomitant to hypericin, its analogs, as well as its previously proposed precursors emodin and emodin anthrone, using MALDI-HRMS imaging. Firstly, we employed HPLC-HRMS to confirm the presence of skyrin in all analyzed species, namely H. humifusum, H. bupleuroides, H. annulatum, H. tetrapterum, and H. rumeliacum. Thereafter, MALDI...
Source: Molecules - Category: Chemistry Authors: Tags: Article Source Type: research