Quantitative co-occurrence of sesquiterpenes; a tool for elucidating their biosynthesis in Indian sandalwood, Santalum album

Chris Jones, Emilio Ghisalberti, Julie Plummer, E.L. Barbour

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

58 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

A chemotaxonomic approach was used to investigate biosynthetic relationships between heartwood sesquiterpenes in Indian sandalwood, Santaltun albuln L. Strong, linear relationships exist between four structural classes of sesquiterpenes; alpha- and beta-santalenes and bergamotene: gamma- and beta-curcumene; beta-bisabolene and alpha-bisabolol and four unidentified sesquiterpenes. All samples within the heartwood yielded the same co-occurrence patterns, however wood from young trees tended to be more variable. It is proposed that the biosynthesis of each structural class of sesquiterpene in sandalwood oil is linked through common carbocation intermediates. Lack of co-occurrence between each structural class suggests that four separate cyclase enzymes may be operative. The biosynthesis of sandalwood oil sesquiterpenes is discussed with respect to these co-occurrence patterns. Extractable oil yield was correlated to heartwood content of each wood core and the oil composition did not vary significantly throughout the tree. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)2463-2468
JournalPhytochemistry
Volume67
Issue number22
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2006

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