Disparate Effects of Two Clerodane Diterpenes of Giant Goldenrod (Solidago gigantea Ait.) on Bacillus spizizenii.

New substances with antimicrobial properties are needed to successfully treat emerging human, animal, or plant pathogens. Seven clerodane diterpenes, previously isolated from giant goldenrod (Solidago gigantea) root, were tested against Gram-positive Bacillus subtilis, Bacillus spizizenii and Rhodococcus fascians by measuring minimal bactericidal concentration (MBC), minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) and half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50). Two of them, Sg3a (a dialdehyde) and Sg6 (solidagoic acid B), were proved to be the most effective and were selected for further study. Bacillus spizizenii was incubated with the two diterpenes for shorter (1 h) or longer (5 h) periods and then subjected to genome-wide transcriptional analyses. Only a limited number of common genes (28 genes) were differentially regulated after each treatment, and these were mainly related to the restoration of cell membrane integrity and to membrane-related transports. Changes in gene activity indicated that, among other things, K+ and Na+ homeostasis, pH and membrane electron transport processes may have been affected. Activated export systems can be involved in the removal of harmful molecules from the bacterial cells. Inhibition of bacterial chemotaxis and flagellar assembly, as well as activation of genes for the biosynthesis of secondary metabolites, were observed as a general response. Depending on the diterpenes and the duration of the treatments, down-regulation of the protein synthesis-related, oxidative phosphorylation, signal transduction and transcription factor genes was found. In other cases, up-regulation of the genes of oxidation-reduction processes, sporulation and cell wall modification could be detected. Comparison of the effect of diterpenes with the changes induced by different environmental and nutritional conditions revealed several overlapping processes with stress responses. For example, the Sg6 treatment seems to have caused a starvation-like condition. In summary, there were both common and diterpene-specific changes in the transcriptome, and these changes were also dependent on the length of treatments. The results also indicated that Sg6 exerted its effect more slowly than Sg3a, but ultimately its effect was greater.

Acetylcholinesterase inhibitors in the giant goldenrod root.

Eight bioactive clerodane diterpenes from the root extract of Solidago gigantea Ait. (giant goldenrod) were quantified by high-performance thin-layer chromatography (HPTLC) and two newly developed hyphenated methods. One uses vanillin sulphuric acid derivatization and densitometry, and the other an inhibition assay of acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and video densitometry. Both methods gave figures of merit for quantification including 5.8-33.9 ng and 175.5-448.7 ng LOQs and 2.7-6.9 RSD% and 8.8-13.9 RSD% inter-day precisions, respectively. Based on the diterpenes' content of 14 root samples collected over a year from the same plant population, the fully flowering plant is suggested to collect the root as a source of these compounds. Excepting one diterpene (with the lowest retardation factor), the quantitative results for the richest sample obtained by the two methods were in harmony. The difference could be due to a matrix effect.

High-performance thin-layer chromatography hyphenated to high-performance liquid chromatography-diode array detection-mass spectrometry for characterization of coeluting isomers.

The effect-directed analysis on a planar chromatogram allows for fast non-target screening, multi-imaging detection of effects (bioprofiling) and highly targeted characterization and isolation of bioactive compounds. For direct characterization by high-resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS), however, the orthogonal hyphenation of two different liquid chromatographic techniques (planar and column chromatography) is still underexplored. In particular, it can be helpful in case of coeluting compounds. Exemplarily, lemon balm (Melissa officinalis L.) leaf extract was analysed by high-performance thin-layer chromatography in combination with bioactivity assays for antibacterial (against the Gram-positive Bacillus subtilis and the Gram-negative Aliivibrio fischeri) and α-glucosidase-inhibitory compounds (HPTLC-UV/Vis/FLD-EDA). High-resolution mass spectra of two bioactive compound zones were directly recorded via an elution head-based interface. By HPTLC-HESI-HRMS, the compound in zone a inhibited A. fischeri and was identified as linolenic acid, whereas the two closely related constitutional isomers oleanolic acid and ursolic acid were present in zone b. This was proven by two-dimensional liquid chromatography. Heart-cutting HPTLC-UV/Vis/FLD-HPLC-DAD-MS allowed the separation of the two isomers and proved both to be present in the bioactive zone with ursolic acid at a much higher abundance.