New hydrogen isotope paper in New Phytologist
A new paper was published in New Phytologist today, addressing the phylogenetic origin of variability in the hydrogen isotope composition among different organic compounds and plant species. For the study we analyzed the hydrogen isotope composition (d2H) of cellulose, n-alkanes, fatty acids, and phytol across a large range of eudicot species to determine the phylogenetic structure of, and mechanistic constraints on biochemical 2H-fractionation. We found a strong phylogenetic signal in lipid compound d2H values, which implies that the drivers of species variation in lipid d2H values are evolutionarily conserved. By contrast, species variation in cellulose d2H values was not strongly linked to phylogeny. Generally low-explanatory power of relationships between d2H values of different compounds (R2 < 0.26) across species implies non-ubiquitous drivers of species variation in plant organic compound d2H values. Historically, variable biochemical 2H-fractionation was often attributed to d2H values of H incorporated from NADPH. The results from this new study suggest that species variation in biochemical 2H-fractionation largely occurs independently within biosynthetic pathways. For lipids, these mechanisms appear strongly linked to evolutionary history.
Link to publication: https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/nph.20430