Project description:The Aloe vera transcriptome was analysed by hybridising triplicate samples of root and leaf tissue to the Affymetrix Arabidopsis ATH1 array.
Project description:The Aloe vera transcriptome was analysed by hybridising triplicate samples of root and leaf tissue to the Affymetrix Arabidopsis ATH1 array. In total, 7 samples were hybridised to the array. Samples consisted of 1 genomic DNA, and triplicate samples of leaf and root RNA.
Project description:Aloe plant species have been used for centuries in traditional medicine and reported to be an important source of natural products. However, despite the large number of species within the Aloe genus, only a few of them have been investigated chemotaxonomically. A Molecular Network approach was used to highlight the different chemical classes characterizing the leaves of five Aloe species: Aloe macra, Aloe vera, Aloe tormentorii, Aloe ferox and Aloe purpurea. Aloe macra, A. tormentorii and A. purpurea are endemic from the Mascarene Islands comprising Reunion, Mauritius and Rodrigues. UHPLC-MS/MS analysis followed by a dereplication process allowed the characterization of 93 metabolites. The newly developed MolNotator algorithm was used as a tool for molecular networking and allowed a better exploration of the Aloe metabolome chemodiversity. The five species appeared to be rich in polyphenols (anthracene derivatives, flavonoids, phenolic acids). Therefore, total phenolic content and antioxidant activity of the five species were evaluated, and a DPPH-On-Line-HPLC assay was used to determine the metabolites responsible for the radical scavenging activity. The use of computational tools allowed a better description of the chemotaxonomy of five Aloe species, which showed differences in their metabolite composition, both qualitative and quantitative. Moreover, the molecular network approach allowed the identification of metabolites responsible for the antioxidant activity.
