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Inhibitory Potential of Naphthoquinones Leached from Leaves and Exuded from Roots of the Invasive Plant Impatiens glandulifera

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Abstract

Exploring the effects of allelopathic plant chemicals on the growth of native vegetation is essential to understand their ecological roles and importance in exotic plant invasion. Naphthoquinones have been identified as potential growth inhibitors produced by Impatiens glandulifera, an exotic annual plant that recently invaded temperate forests in Europe. However, naphthoquinone release and inhibitory potential have not been examined. We quantified the naphthoquinone content in cotyledons, leaves, stems, and roots from plants of different ages of both the invasive I. glandulifera and native Impatiens noli-tangere as well as in soil extracts and rainwater rinsed from leaves of either plant species by using ultra-high pressure liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS). We identified the compound 2-methoxy-1,4-naphthoquinone (2-MNQ) exclusively in plant organs of I. glandulifera, in resin bags buried into the soil of patches invaded by I. glandulifera, and in rainwater rinsed from its leaves. This indicates that 2-MNQ is released from the roots of I. glandulifera and leached from its leaves by rain. Specific bioassays using aqueous shoot and root extracts revealed a strong inhibitory effect on the germination of two native forest herbs and on the mycelium growth of three ectomycorrhiza fungi. These findings suggest that the release of 2-MNQ may contribute to the invasion success of I. glandulifera and support the novel weapons hypothesis.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Anette Baur, Günter Hoch, Evelyn Meyer, and two anonymous reviewers for comments on the manuscript. Financial support was received from the Velux Foundation, Zürich.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Section of Conservation Biology, Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Basel, St. Johanns-Vorstadt 10, CH-4056, Basel, Switzerland

    Regina Ruckli, Katharina Hesse, Hans-Peter Rusterholz & Bruno Baur

  2. Chemical Analytical Service of the Swiss Plant Science Web, Institute of Biology, University of Neuchâtel, Neuchâtel, Switzerland

    Gaetan Glauser

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  1. Regina Ruckli
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  2. Katharina Hesse
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  3. Gaetan Glauser
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Correspondence to Hans-Peter Rusterholz.

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Ruckli, R., Hesse, K., Glauser, G. et al. Inhibitory Potential of Naphthoquinones Leached from Leaves and Exuded from Roots of the Invasive Plant Impatiens glandulifera . J Chem Ecol 40, 371–378 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10886-014-0421-5

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