Building maps of plant surface chemistry using literature and citizen-collected mass spectrometry samples

Abstract

Understanding plant chemicals can greatly help achieve the important goals of reducing negative environmental impacts of agriculture and achieving high crop yields. One class of chemicals that has a big influence on plant health and growth is triterpenoid. However, there is a limited number of biological systems in which to study triterpenoids in detail. To increase the number of study systems, and thus our potential to build knowledge of triterpenoid function, there is a critical need to understand which triterpenoids can be found on which plant species' surface. The objective of this project was to build maps of plant surface compound presence with an emphasis on triterpenoids, using published and newly acquired gas chromatography-mass spectrometry data. The maps reveal trends that some triterpenoids are very commonly found on plant surface, while others are rare. In addition, divergent and convergent evolution traits among plants regarding their triterpenoid and other wax compounds presence were also identified.