CHEMICAL PROFILING AND DENDROGRAPHIC REPRESENTATION OF 16 MEMBERS OF ORDER MYRTALES COLLECTED FROM DIFFERENT REGIONS OF MAHARASHTRA, INDIA

Abstract

Chemical profiling was employed to delineate phylogenetic relationships among 16 taxa of the angiosperm order Myrtales collected from distinct biogeographic regions of Maharashtra, India. Leaf methanolic extracts were analyzed via High Performance Thin-Layer Chromatography (HPTLC) to generate comprehensive phytochemical fingerprints. Binary presence–absence matrices derived from distinct chromatographic bands were used to compute Pairing Affinity Indices, quantifying interspecific chemical similarity and divergence. Distance matrices informed construction of dendrograms to visualize chemoprofile-based phylogenetic patterns across seasonal cohorts. The highest affinity values were observed between Eucalyptus globulus and Terminalia mantaly (52%) in Lonavala (summer) and between Combretum indicum and Gnetonia floribunda (50%) in Mumbai (winter), indicating pronounced chemotaxonomic divergence. Lower affinity values (25–26%) were recorded among other species pairs, reflecting varied degrees of secondary metabolite overlap. Cladistic interpretation of chemoprofiles revealed discrete clusters consistent with family-level differentiation within Myrtaceae, Lythraceae, Lecythidaceae, Combretaceae and Melastomataceae. These findings demonstrate that HPTLC-derived secondary metabolite distribution provides informative chemotaxonomic markers that can complement morphological and molecular data in resolving evolutionary relationships. The results support the integration of chemical data into systematic frameworks and highlight the potential of chemoprofiling for enhancing the resolution of phylogenetic inference in Myrtales.

KEYWORDS

Chemotaxonomy; Myrtales; High-performance thin-layer chromatography (HPTLC); Secondary metabolites; Pairing affinity; Phytochemical profiling