Browsing by Subject "Metabolic Pathways"

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    Identifying Metabolic Pathways Producing Alkamides in Echinacea purpurea
    (Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research, 2016-04-08) Williams, Jermell; Teitgen, Alicen; Minto, Robert
    Echinacea purpurea is a widely used herbal supplement that is frequently taken to relieve cold symptoms. Alkamides are a secondary metabolite found throughout the Echinacea genus that contain fatty acid chains incorporated into amides and are believed to be the bioactive agent in Echinacea. Our goal is to identify and understand the specific metabolic processes by which E. purpurea produces alkamides. In our experiment, Echinacea seedlings were grown to where the first true leaf emerged and unfurled which is when alkamide production is known to be most active. Alkamides were then extracted and taken to the GC/MS and LC/MS for analysis. Extracted alkamides were analyzed by triplequadrupole chromatography to investigate 13C labeling by glucose. Solid phase extractions were also performed to better observe fragmentation patterns. Fatty acids were also extracted to determine if fatty acids and alkamides were affected the same way by light or the lack of light, which would indicate that they are being synthesized in the same place. It was determined that neither compound experienced a synthesis decrease in the dark significant enough to support a model where acyl chains are newly created in the chloroplasts. Therefore alkamides are more likely to be made in the mitochondria. We are currently in the process of examining the spectra in order to determine the structures of the alkamides as well as any metabolic relationships.
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    Identifying Metabolic Pathways Producing Alkamides in Echinacea purpurea
    (Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research, 2015-04-17) Williams, Jermell; Teitgen, Alicen; Minto, Robert E.
    Echinacea purpurea is a widely used herbal supplement that is frequently taken to relieve cold symptoms; alkamides are believed to be the bioactive agent. Alkamides are natural products found throughout the Echinacea genus that contain fatty acid chains incorporated into amides. Our goal is to identify and understand the specific metabolic processes by which E. purpurea produces alkamides. In our experiment Echinacea seedlings were grown to the point where the first true leaf started to grow and alkamide production is known to be active. Alkamides were then extracted and taken to the GC/MS for analysis. Extracted alkamides were analyzed by triple-quadrupole chromatography to investigate 13C labeling by glucose. We are currently in the process of examining the spectra in order to determine the structures of the alkamides as well as any metabolic relationships and if these are altered by a lack of light.