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Secondary metabolites of downy birch buds (Betula pubescens Erch.)

  • Valery A. Isidorov ORCID logo EMAIL logo , Jolanta Nazaruk , Marcin Stocki and Sławomir Bakier
Published/Copyright: October 20, 2021
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Abstract

The subject of this study is the composition of low-molecular-weight metabolites in downy birch (Betula pubescens) buds and their participation in protection from various kinds of stress. Using the GC-MS, 640 compounds were detected, of which 314 were identified in downy birch buds for the first time. The volatile components detected using the SPME technique mainly consisted (about 70% of the total ionic current of the chromatogram, TIC) of mixtures of sesquiterpenoids. The exudate covering the buds, along with sesquiterpenoids (approximately 60% of TIC), included flavonoids (25% of TIC). The main part of the material extracted by supercritical carbon dioxide from buds comprised sesquiterpenoids and triterpenoids (47 and 28% of TIC, respectively). Via column chromatography, 25 known compounds (mainly flavonoids and triterpenoids) were isolated, most of which were first discovered in the buds of downy birch. Many compounds of these classes have strong biological activity and probably either directly or indirectly perform a protective function in birch buds. An assumption is made about the biological role of a number of secondary metabolites (such as volatile isomeric megastigmatriens and triterpene seco-acids) as well as about these compounds’ possible means of biosynthesis, which were first discovered in the buds of downy birch.


Corresponding author: Valery A. Isidorov, Faculty of Civil Engineering and Environmental Sciences, Institute of Forest Sciences, Białystok University of Technology, Wiejska 45E, 15-351 Bialystok, Poland, E-mail:

Funding source: Narodowe Centrum Nauki

Award Identifier / Grant number: 2016/23/B/NZ7/03360

Funding source: Białystok University of Technology

Award Identifier / Grant number: S/ZWL/1/2017

Acknowledgments

We thanks Anna J. Wołkowycka-Drużba for technical assistance and sample preparation.

  1. Author contributions: All the authors have accepted responsibility for the entire content of this submitted manuscript and approved submission.

  2. Research funding: This study was funded by National Science Centre (Poland) (grant number 2016/23/B/NZ7/03360) and Białystok University of Technology (grant number S/ZWL/1/2017).

  3. Conflict of interest statement: The authors declare no conflicts of interest regarding this article.

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Supplementary Material

The online version of this article offers supplementary material (https://doi.org/10.1515/ZNC-2021-0036).


Received: 2021-02-07
Accepted: 2021-09-28
Published Online: 2021-10-20
Published in Print: 2022-03-28

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