Unravelling Chemical Composition of Agave Spines: News from Agave fourcroydes Lem
2020
Morán-Velázquez, Dalia C. | Monribot-Villanueva, Juan L. | Bourdon, Matthieu | Tang, John Z. | López-Rosas, Itzel | Maceda-López, Luis F. | Villalpando-Aguilar, José L. | Rodríguez-López, Lorena | Gauthier, Adrien | Trejo, Laura | Azadi, Parastoo | Vilaplana, Francisco | Guerrero-Analco, José A. | Alatorre-Cobos, Fulgencio
Spines are key plant modifications developed to deal against herbivores; however, its physical structure and chemical composition have been little explored in plant species. Here, we took advantage of high-throughput chromatography to characterize chemical composition of Agave fourcroydes Lem. spines, a species traditionally used for fiber extraction. Analyses of structural carbohydrate showed that spines have lower cellulose content than leaf fibers (52 and 72%, respectively) but contain more than 2-fold the hemicellulose and 1.5-fold pectin. Xylose and galacturonic acid were enriched in spines compared to fibers. The total lignin content in spines was 1.5-fold higher than those found in fibers, with elevated levels of syringyl (S) and guaiacyl (G) subunits but similar S/G ratios within tissues. Metabolomic profiling based on accurate mass spectrometry revealed the presence of phenolic compounds including quercetin, kaempferol, (+)-catechin, and (-)-epicatechin in A. fourcroydes spines, which were also detected in situ in spines tissues and could be implicated in the color of these plants’ structures. Abundance of (+)-catechins could also explain proanthocyanidins found in spines. Agave spines may become a plant model to obtain more insights about cellulose and lignin interactions and condensed tannin deposition, which is valuable knowledge for the bioenergy industry and development of naturally dyed fibers, respectively.
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