Endophyte Alkaloids An MS Fragment Marker

The intimate relationship of endophytes with plants can raise questions about the validity of assumptions that a secondary metabolite is a tme phytochemical rather than biosynthesized by the endophyte(s) associated with the plant. 

It has also been proposed that the presence of endophytes can alter the usual suite of secondary metabolites of plants. For example, whilst Murraya spp. have been reported to produce indole and carbazole alkaloids, the Brazilian M. paniculata did not [25]. An endophytic Eupenicillium sp. was isolated from surface-sterilized leaf material of the Brazilian M. paniculata and subsequently cultured on white corn. The Eupenicillium sp. produced hydrophobic spiroquinazoline alkaloids that were separated using silica gel column chromatography and preparative gel-filtration 

In a similar utilization of MS markers, the total ion chromatograms derived for extracts of Delphinium species vere scanned for the presence of toxic alkaloids (Section 13.6.1). 

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