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Metabolomics to Explore Specialized Metabolites Involved in Chemical Ecology

A special issue of Molecules (ISSN 1420-3049).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2021) | Viewed by 4384

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Department of Environmental, Biological and Pharmaceutical Sciences and Technologies—DiSTABiF, University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”, Via Vivaldi 43, 81100 Caserta, Italy
Interests: natural product chemistry; metabolomics; NMR; isolation and structural elucidation of metabolites; allelopathy; bioactive compounds
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Guest Editor
Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (EMBRAPA) Instrumentation, Rua 15 de Novembro 1452, Centro, São Carlos, SP 13560-970, Brazil

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleague,

Specialized metabolites are often involved in the interactions of the producing organisms with their environment. The investigation of these interactions is the core of chemical ecology. In this context, the key aspects are the identification of the metabolites involved and the understanding of how these compounds perform their action.

Metabolomics has been proposed as an invaluable tool to address these challenging tasks. This approach can be used to identify the chemicals involved in the interaction as well as to tackle the mechanistic aspects related for example to compounds’ biosynthesis, emission, uptake, metabolism, and mode of action.

This Special Issue welcomes submissions (both in the form of original research papers and reviews) that deal with the study of specialized metabolites involved in chemical ecology through metabolomics and related technologies.

The following main topics will be taken into consideration:

-New metabolomics-based methods in chemical ecology;

-The discovery of new compounds involved in chemical ecology through metabolomics;

-Metabolomics-guided elucidation of the role/biosynthesis/metabolism/mode of action of both new and known metabolites involved in chemical ecology.

Dr. Monica Scognamiglio
Dr. Fernanda Maria Marins Ocampos
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Molecules is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • metabolomics
  • chemical ecology
  • specialized metabolites
  • NMR
  • MS
  • chemometrics
  • biotic interactions
  • metabolism
  • biosynthesis
  • mode of action
  • bioassays

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

20 pages, 2195 KiB  
Article
Metabolomics of Myrcia bella Populations in Brazilian Savanna Reveals Strong Influence of Environmental Factors on Its Specialized Metabolism
by Luiz Leonardo Saldanha, Pierre-Marie Allard, Adlin Afzan, Fernanda Pereira de Souza Rosa de Melo, Laurence Marcourt, Emerson Ferreira Queiroz, Wagner Vilegas, Cláudia Maria Furlan, Anne Lígia Dokkedal and Jean-Luc Wolfender
Molecules 2020, 25(12), 2954; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules25122954 - 26 Jun 2020
Cited by 13 | Viewed by 3457
Abstract
Environmental conditions influence specialized plant metabolism. However, many studies aiming to understand these modulations have been conducted with model plants and/or under controlled conditions, thus not reflecting the complex interaction between plants and environment. To fully grasp these interactions, we investigated the specialized [...] Read more.
Environmental conditions influence specialized plant metabolism. However, many studies aiming to understand these modulations have been conducted with model plants and/or under controlled conditions, thus not reflecting the complex interaction between plants and environment. To fully grasp these interactions, we investigated the specialized metabolism and genetic diversity of a native plant in its natural environment. We chose Myrcia bella due to its medicinal interest and occurrence in Brazilian savanna regions with diverse climate and soil conditions. An LC-HRMS-based metabolomics approach was applied to analyze 271 samples harvested across seven regions during the dry and rainy season. Genetic diversity was assessed in a subset of 40 samples using amplified fragment length polymorphism. Meteorological factors including rainfall, temperature, radiation, humidity, and soil nutrient and mineral composition were recorded in each region and correlated with chemical variation through multivariate analysis (MVDA). Marker compounds were selected using a statistically informed molecular network and annotated by dereplication against an in silico database of natural products. The integrated results evidenced different chemotypes, with variation in flavonoid and tannin content mainly linked to soil conditions. Different levels of genetic diversity and distance of populations were found to be correlated with the identified chemotypes. These observations and the proposed analytical workflow contribute to the global understanding of the impact of abiotic factors and genotype on the accumulation of given metabolites and, therefore, could be valuable to guide further medicinal exploration of native species. Full article
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