Planta Med 2016; 82(S 01): S1-S381
DOI: 10.1055/s-0036-1596182
Abstracts
Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York

New strategies to identify synergists from Hydrastis canadensis (goldenseal)

Authors

  • ER Britton

    1   Department Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Greensboro, North Carolina 27402, United States

  • JJ Kellogg

    1   Department Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Greensboro, North Carolina 27402, United States

  • OM Kvalheim

    2   Department of Chemistry, University of Bergen, Bergen 5020, Norway

  • NB Cech

    1   Department Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Greensboro, North Carolina 27402, United States
Further Information

Publication History

Publication Date:
14 December 2016 (online)

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Those who study complex botanical extracts are routinely faced with the challenge of unraveling the complicated molecular interactions that makes up an observed biological effect. Despite the development of methods such as synergy-guided fractionation that facilitate the identification of synergists, components that are in low abundance may still be overlooked. The goal of this research is to combine synergy-guided fractionation[1] with biochemometrics[2] and molecular networking [3]to identify antimicrobial compounds and synergists. Hydrastis canadensis L. (Ranunculaceae) was chosen as a case study because our laboratory has shown it to contain alkaloids and flavonoids that act synergistically against bacterias [1]. An ethyl acetate extract of goldenseal was fractionated and evaluated for its ability to enhance the antimicrobial activity of the alkaloid berberine against Staphylococcus aureus. Active fractions were subjected to chemical profiling for biochemometric analysis and molecular networking at each stage of fractionation. The biochemometrics workflow identified the flavonoids sideroxylin, 6-desmethyl sideroxylin and 8-desmethyl sideroxylin as synergizing with berberine. These results agree with previous isolation-based experiments [1], and indicate the effectiveness of this new approach for identifying synergists. Additionally, a series of previously unidentified ions were highlighted as being synergists based on biochemometric analysis, and molecular networks imply structural similarity of these ions to known flavonoids. Overall, our findings demonstrate that the application of biochemometrics in combination with molecular networking can provide a more comprehensive picture of which compounds contribute to the activity of a complex botanical than can be obtained with isolation-based approaches alone.

Acknowledgements: Laura Sanchez is acknowledged for assistance with molecular networking.

Keywords: synergy, molecular networking, biochemometrics, goldenseal.

References:

[1] Junio HA, Sy-Cordero AA, Ettefagh KA, Burns JT, Micko KT, Graf TN, Richter SJ, Cannon RE, Oberlies NH, Cech NB. Synergy-directed fractionation of botanical medicines: a case study with goldenseal (Hydrastis canadensis). J Nat Prod 2011; 74: 1621 – 1629

[2] Kellogg JJ, Todd DA, Egan JM, Raja HA, Oberlies NH, Kvalheim OM, Cech NB. Biochemometrics for natural products research: comparison of data analysis approaches and application to identification of bioactive compounds. J Nat Prod 2016; 79: 376 – 386

[3] Yang JY, Sanchez LM, Rath CM, Liu X, Boudreau PD, Bruns N, Glukhov E, Wodtke A, de Felicio R, Fenner A, Wong WR, Linington RG, Zhang L, Debonsi HM, Gerwick WH, Dorrestein PC. Molecular networking as a dereplication strategy. J Nat Prod 2013; 76: 1686 – 1699


No conflict of interest has been declared by the author(s).