Poster: Secondary Metabolism

Abs # 286: Population Variability as Determined by the Concentration of Abundant Compounds in Anemopsis californica Collected in New Mexico

Presenter:	Medina, Andrea L, andmedin@nmsu.edu
Authors	Medina, Andrea L (A)   Holguin, Francisco O (A)   Sias, Sal  (A)   O'Connell, Mary A (A)
Affiliations:	(A): New Mexico State University
Web Site:	http://medplant.nmsu.edu

For generations, people of New Mexico have appreciated the medicinal value of yerba mansa (Anemopsis californica (Nutt) Hook. and Arn.). Treasured for the treatment of pain, inflammation, sores and ulcerations, yerba mansa is an important member of the Southwestern pharmacopoeia. Anemopsis plants from 18 distinct populations growing in New Mexico were collected in the autumnal months of 2001. The roots of plants from each population were photographed, dried, ground, and extracted using a super critical fluid extractor (SFE). The extracting solvent was CO2 at a density of 0.725 g/ml. Root tissue from one population was also extracted by steam distillation. The respective extracts were then analyzed by GC/MS and the concentrations of select analytes: methyleugenol, thymol, and piperitone were quantified by GC/FID. Findings reveal the superiority of SFE as an extraction method in terms of: analyte recovery, reduced sample to sample variability, and time required for tissue preparation and extraction. Preliminary data indicates the impact of season collection, annual precipitation, domestication and population variability on the accumulation of volatile compounds in Anemopsis. This work was supported by the New Mexico Agricultural Experiment Station and NIH grant GM61222.