Vol.:(0123456789) 1 3 Chemoecology https://doi.org/10.1007/s00049-019-00283-3 ORIGINAL ARTICLE Sequestration of the plant secondary metabolite, colchicine, by the noctuid moth Polytela gloriosae (Fab.) T. P. Sajitha 1,2  · R. Siva 1  · B. L. Manjunatha 2  · P. Rajani 2  · Gogna Navdeep 3  · Dorai Kavita 3  · G. Ravikanth 4  · R. Uma Shaanker 2,4 Received: 9 September 2018 / Accepted: 22 May 2019 © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019 Abstract Colchicine, a well-known alkaloid, is a potent inhibitor of polymerization of tubulin leading to mitotic arrest. It is highly toxic to eukaryotic cells but also widely used in the feld of medicine and plant breeding. Gloriosa superba (family: Colchicaceae) is an important natural source of colchicine. The seeds, tubers and leaves of this plant contain about 0.8, 1.2 and 0.014% colchicine by dry weight respectively. A noctuid moth, Polytela gloriosae (family: Noctuidae), feeds voraciously on leaves of G. superba without any adverse efect. However, the fate of colchicine and the mechanisms by which the insect is able to overcome the toxicity of the metabolite is not known. Here, we trace the fate of colchicine in both, the larva and moth of P. gloriosae. Colchicine was quantifed in diferent body parts of the larvae and moth by high performance liquid chromatogra- phy, liquid chromatography mass spectrophotometry and nuclear magnetic resonance methods. Of the total colchicine taken in by the larva, a larger portion was excreted, while the rest was sequestered in its cuticle. In the moths however, the wings, legs and antennae were found to accumulate high amount of colchicine. The sequestered colchicine, in both the larva and adult, were chemically identical to that found in the plant. Negligible amounts of demethyl-(−)-colchicine, a less toxic derivative of colchicine was also detected. We discuss the probable adaptive signifcance of sequestration of colchicine by the insect. Keywords Colchicine · Gloriosa superba · Polytela gloriosae · Sequestration Introduction Plants produce a number of secondary metabolites as a defense against herbivores. These metabolites range from being simple anti-feedants (such as sugar-mimic alkaloids) to Na + , K + -ATPase inhibitors (such as cardiac glycosides) or cell division arresters (such as taxol) (Aharoni et al. 2005; Howe and Jander 2008; Taiz and Zeiger 2010; Rosenthal and Berenbaum 2012; Fürstenberg-Hägg et al. 2013). However, over evolutionary time, in an obvious arms race, several herbivores adapt and often evolve mechanisms to overcome plant defenses. The evolution of resistance of monarch but- terfies against cardenolide glycosides, for instance is a clas- sic example of an insect overcoming plant defensive second- ary metabolites (Marty and Krieger 1984; Malcolm et al. 1989; Holzinger and Wink 1996; Helmus and Dussourd 2005; Després et al. 2007). One such plant secondary metabolite known for its anti- mitotic activity in eukaryotic systems is colchicine. The isoquinoline alkaloid has been well exploited therapeuti- cally as a mitotic poison and also in inducing polyploidy CHEMOECOLOGY Communicated by Günther Raspotnig. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s00049-019-00283-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. * R. Uma Shaanker umashaanker@gmail.com 1 Department of Biotechnology, School of Biosciences and Technology, Vellore Institute of Technology, Vellore, Tamilnadu 632014, India 2 Department of Crop Physiology and School of Ecology and Conservation, University of Agricultural Sciences, GKVK, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560065, India 3 Department of Physical Sciences, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Mohali, Sector 8, SAS Nagar, Punjab 160062, India 4 Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment, Royal Enclave, Srirampura, Jakkur Post, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560064, India