A serotaxonomic study of Acacia gum exudates

A simple immunological analysis of plant cell wall component epitopes prese nt in 16 gum exudates obtained from 13 species of Acacia trees has shown th at each of the gum samples studied had a unique composition. These analyses demonstrated, that in some cases gums harvested from species in the same t axonomic group exhibited wider differences in their composition of cell wal l component epitopes as compared to gums from taxonomically unrelated speci es. Furthermore, gums obtained from different sub-species of a single speci es (e.g. A. nilotica and A. nilotica sspp. nilotica) were shown to have ver y distinct chemical compositions. The results also demonstrated for the fir st time, the presence of hydroxyproline-rich glycoprotein (HRGP) epitopes i n the gum exudates of A. tortilis, A. nilotica, A. nilotica sspp. nilotica, A. microbotrya, A. pycnantha and A. campylacantha. These clearly demonstra te the utility of such immunological tests in chemotaxonomic analyses of th is economically important class of plant gum exudates. (C) 1998 Elsevier Sc ience Ltd. All rights reserved.