Abstract
Eight specimens of six known cultivars of Ricinus communis were investigated for differences in their metabolome that could be used to determine both provenance and cultivar. Seven replicates of three seeds per specimen were subjected to 1H NMR analysis, with the collected data further investigated using multivariate statistical analysis (OPLS-DA), resulting in class separations according to provenance. Analysis of loadings plots in addition to further chemical analysis of the extracts allowed for the identification of phenylalanine, ricinine, the N-demethyl and O-demethyl analogues of ricinine, and sucrose as important molecular markers for particular cultivars. To test the strength of the model, extracts generated from blinded specimens were used as a prediction set and were correctly classified according to provenance and cultivar.
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Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank Gareth Griffiths from Dstl, UK, for supplying specimens of R. communis for this work. We are grateful to Christina Bagas and Stuart Thomson (DSTO) for their enthusiastic discussions and contributions. The authors would also like to acknowledge National Security Science and Technology (NSST) branch of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, Emergency Management Australia and the Australian Federal Police for financially supporting this research through a NSST grant.
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Pigott, E.J., Roberts, W., Ovenden, S.P.B. et al. Metabolomic investigations of Ricinus communis for cultivar and provenance determination. Metabolomics 8, 634–642 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11306-011-0355-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11306-011-0355-7