Browsing by Person "Eckert, Silvia"

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Inter-laboratory comparison of plant volatile analyses in the light of intra-specific chemodiversity
(2023) Eckert, Silvia; Eilers, Elisabeth J.; Jakobs, Ruth; Anaia, Redouan Adam; Aragam, Kruthika Sen; Bloss, Tanja; Popp, Moritz; Sasidharan, Rohit; Schnitzler, Jörg-Peter; Stein, Florian; Steppuhn, Anke; Unsicker, Sybille B.; van Dam, Nicole M.; Yepes, Sol; Ziaja, Dominik; Müller, Caroline
Introduction: Assessing intraspecific variation in plant volatile organic compounds (VOCs) involves pitfalls that may bias biological interpretation, particularly when several laboratories collaborate on joint projects. Comparative, inter-laboratory ring trials can inform on the reproducibility of such analyses. Objectives: In a ring trial involving five laboratories, we investigated the reproducibility of VOC collections with polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) and analyses by thermal desorption-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (TD-GC-MS). As model plant we used Tanacetum vulgare , which shows a remarkable diversity in terpenoids, forming so-called chemotypes. We performed our ring-trial with two chemotypes to examine the sources of technical variation in plant VOC measurements during pre-analytical, analytical, and post-analytical steps. Methods: Monoclonal root cuttings were generated in one laboratory and distributed to five laboratories, in which plants were grown under laboratory-specific conditions. VOCs were collected on PDMS tubes from all plants before and after a jasmonic acid (JA) treatment. Thereafter, each laboratory (donors) sent a subset of tubes to four of the other laboratories (recipients), which performed TD-GC-MS with their own established procedures. Results: Chemotype-specific differences in VOC profiles were detected but with an overall high variation both across donor and recipient laboratories. JA-induced changes in VOC profiles were not reproducible. Laboratory-specific growth conditions led to phenotypic variation that affected the resulting VOC profiles. Conclusion: Our ring trial shows that despite large efforts to standardise each VOC measurement step, the outcomes differed both qualitatively and quantitatively. Our results reveal sources of variation in plant VOC research and may help to avoid systematic errors in similar experiments.
Understanding the chemodiversity of plants: quantification, variation and ecological function
(2024) Petrén, Hampus; Anaia, Redouan Adam; Aragam, Kruthika Sen; Bräutigam, Andrea; Eckert, Silvia; Heinen, Robin; Jakobs, Ruth; Ojeda‐Prieto, Lina; Popp, Moritz; Sasidharan, Rohit; Schnitzler, Jörg‐Peter; Steppuhn, Anke; Thon, Frans M.; Unsicker, Sybille B.; van Dam, Nicole M.; Weisser, Wolfgang W.; Wittmann, Meike J.; Yepes, Sol; Ziaja, Dominik; Müller, Caroline; Junker, Robert R.
Plants produce a great number of phytochemicals serving a variety of different functions. Recently, the chemodiversity of these compounds (i.e., the diversity of compounds produced by a plant) has been suggested to be an important aspect of the plant phenotype that may shape interactions between plants, their environment, and other organisms. However, we lack an agreement on how to quantify chemodiversity, which complicates conclusions about the functional importance of it. Here, we discuss how chemodiversity (deconstructed into components of richness, evenness and disparity) may relate to different ecologically relevant aspects of the phenotype. Then, we systematically review the literature on chemodiversity to examine methodological practices, explore patterns of variability in diversity across different levels of biological organization, and investigate the functional role of this diversity in interactions between plants and other organisms. Overall, the reviewed literature suggests that high chemodiversity is often beneficial for plants, although a heterogeneity of methodological approaches partly limits what general conclusions can be drawn. Importantly, to support future research on this topic, we provide a framework with a decision tree facilitating choices on which measures of chemodiversity are best used in different contexts and outline key questions and avenues for future research. A more thorough understanding of chemodiversity will provide insights into its evolution and functional role in ecological interactions between plants and their environment.