A comparison of novel weapons in European and Australian Echium plantagineum populations using metabolic profiling
Dominik Skoneczny  1@  , Xiaocheng Zhu  2@  , Alexandra Garcia Duran  3  , Luz Cabeiras Freijanes  4  , Daniel Montesinos  5  , Miguel Serrano Pérez  6  , Paul Weston  7  , Geoff Gurr  8, 9  , Ragan Callaway  10  , Leslie Weston  11  
1 : Graham Centre for Agricultural Innovation, Charles Sturt University  -  Website
Locked Bag 588, Wagga Wagga 2678 NSW -  Australia
2 : Graham Centre for Agricultural Innovation, Charles Sturt University
Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga, 2678 -  Australia
3 : Department of Organic Chemistry, University of Cadiz
C/republica Saharaui, s/n, 11510 Puerto Real, Cadiz -  Spain
4 : Department of Plant Biology and Soil Science, University of Vigo
Campus Lagoas-Marcosende, s/n, 36310 Vigo -  Spain
5 : Centre for Functional Ecology, University of Coimbra
Calçada Martim de Freitas 3000, 456 Coimbra -  Portugal
6 : Department of Botany, University of Santiago de Compostela
15782 Santiago de Compostela -  Spain
7 : Graham Centre for Agricultural Innovation, Charles Sturt University
Locked Bag 588, Wagga Wagga 2678 NSW -  Australia
8 : Graham Centre for Agricultural Innovation, Charles Sturt University
Leeds Parade, Orange 2830 NSW -  Australia
9 : Institute of Applied Ecology
Fujian Agriculture & Forestry University, Fuzhou 350002 -  China
10 : Division of Biological Sciences, University of Montana
Missoula, 59812 MT -  United States
11 : Graham Centre for Agricultural Innovation, Charles Sturt University
Locked Bag 588, Wagga Wagga, 2678 -  Australia

Native to the Iberian Peninsula, Echium plantagineum L. was introduced to Australia in 1800's and is a noxious invasive weed in Australian pastures. Its toxicity to grazing livestock causes >$250 M annual losses to the Australian industries. However, in its native range it is not particularly invasive or toxic. Plants from twelve geographically distinct European and Australian populations of E. plantagineum were collected and analyzed for accumulation of allelochemicals including antimicrobial and phytotoxic naphthoquinones (NQs) and shoot toxic pyrrolizidine alkaloids (PAs). NQs were extracted in ethanol from the root periderm, whereas foliage was extracted in methanol for analysis of PAs. Extracts were subjected to metabolic profiling using UHPLC-ESI-QTOF (Agilent, USA) in negative and positive mode. Data was processed using targeted and non-targeted analyses and compared to an in-house database of NQs and PAs using Mass Profiler Professional Software (Agilent, USA). Australian populations produced up to 6-fold higher concentrations of NQs and 3-fold reduced concentration of 14 PAs (P<0.05) in comparison to plants collected from the Iberian Peninsula. Echium plantagineum plants established more densely across the Australian range, and field stands were also significantly less biodiverse as measured by plant species richness in contrast to stands in the native range. Plants in the native range retained their potent ability to defend against herbivory through the enhanced production of an abundance of PAs, while Australian plants defended through increased production of a diversity of phytotoxic and antimicrobial NQs in root periderm tissues. Our studies suggest that the invasion success of E. plantagineum in Australia, in contrast to establishment in the native range, may be related to post-introduction adaptive evolutionary changes in plant metabolism. Upregulation of key metabolites in Australia may be associated with climate-driven natural selection processes and plant's escape from natural enemies, further contributing to successful invasion following introduction.


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