Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Biochemical Systematics and Ecology journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/biochemsyseco Intra- and interpopulation variability of Balkan endemic - Satureja kitaibelii based on n-alkane profle Tanja Dodoš ∗ , Nemanja Rajčević, Pedja Janaćković, Jelica Novaković, Petar D. Marin University of Belgrade - Faculty of Biology, Studentski Trg 16, 11000, Belgrade, Serbia ARTICLE INFO Keywords: Satureja kitaibelii Lamiaceae n-alkanes Leaf epicuticular wax ABSTRACT Satureja kitaibelii Wierzb. ex Heuf. is endemic species of central Balkan that lives along the Balkan mountains range. The aim of this research was to study the variability of n-alkane profles of four S. kitaibelii populations growing wild in Serbia in regards to biogeography and chemotaxonomy. Using GC/MS and GC/FID, seventeen n- alkane homologues (C 19 –C 35 ) were identifed. n-Hentriacontane (C 31 ) was dominant in all populations, except in population Djerdap and Rtanj were it was co-dominant with n-nonacosane (C 29 ). Population Temšica and Poganovo also had high percentages of n-nonacosane and n-tritriacontane (C 33 ). However, these two compounds had similar quantities in population Poganovo. Statistical analyses showed diferences between studied popu- lations based on n-alkane profles. Moreover, geographically closer populations had a similar profle. 1. Introduction The genus Satureja comprises of ca. 30 species, belongs to family Lamiaceae, subfamily Nepetoideaе, tribe Mentheae, subtribe Menthinae (Harley et al., 2004). Species of this genus are annual or perennial semi- bushy aromatic plants that inhabit arid, sunny and rocky habitats (Slavkovska et al., 2001), with the centre of distribution in the eastern part of the Mediterranean (Šilić, 1979). Satureja kitaibelii Wierzb. ex Heuf. is an endemic species of central Balkan with the distribution along the Balkan mountains (southwest Romania, eastern Serbia, and north-west Bulgaria) (Ball and Getlife, 1972; Diklić and Janković, 1974; Jordanov et al., 1963; Savulescu, 1952; “EuroPlusMed”, 2010). In Serbia, it is well known and used as a culinary herb, as well as tea in traditional medicine (Kundaković et al., 2011; López-Cobo et al., 2015; Stanojković et al., 2013). Previous investigations of S. kitaibelii were focused on essential oil composition, biological activity of essential oils or extracts (Ćetković et al., 2007; Chalchat et al., 1999; Đorđević et al., 2014; Konakchiev and Tsankova, 2002; Kundaković et al., 2011; López-Cobo et al., 2015; Milosavljević et al., 2000; Sevarda et al., 1988; Slavkovska et al., 2001; Stanojković et al., 2013). Literature survey shows a study of n-alkane profle in this species but with diferent methodology (Palić et al., 1994). Even so, the chemotaxonomic signifcance of n-alkanes in the diferentiation of species and subspecies of S. montana and S. subspicata has been shown (Dodoš et al., 2017, 2015). The aim of this study was to gain insight into n-alkane profles of four S. kitaibelii populations growing wild in Serbia with respect to biogeography and chemotaxonomy. The infuence of diferent en- vironmental and geographical factors on n-alkane profles was also in- cluded in the analyses. 2. Material and methods 2.1. Plant material Randomly selected individual plants from four Satureja kitaibelii populations from east Serbia were collected in autumn 2012 and 2016 (Table 1, Fig. 1). The collected material was air dried and stored at room temperature until leaf cuticular n-alkanes extraction. Voucher specimens were deposited at Herbarium University of Belgrade (BEOU) (accessions No 17459, 17460, 17461 17479). 2.2. Extraction of leaf n-alkanes The extraction method is as described by Dodoš et al. (2017, 2015). 2.3. GC/MS analysis Gas chromatography (GC) and gas chromatography-mass spectro- metry (GC–MS) was performed using the same instruments and settings as described by Dodoš et al. (2017, 2015). The relative abundance of the n-alkanes was calculated from the signal intensities of the https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bse.2019.05.008 Received 25 March 2019; Received in revised form 13 May 2019; Accepted 16 May 2019 ∗ Corresponding author. E-mail address: tanjadodos@bio.bg.ac.rs (T. Dodoš). Biochemical Systematics and Ecology 85 (2019) 68–71 0305-1978/ © 2019 Published by Elsevier Ltd. T