• Key message

Distinct chemical fingerprints of the wood of Afzelia pachyloba and A. bipindensis demonstrated an effective method for identifying these two commercially important species. Direct analysis in real-time (DART) time-of-flight mass spectrometry (TOFMS) allowed high-throughput examination of chemotypes with vast potential in taxonomic, ecological, and forensic research of wood.

• Context

Afzelia is a genus of valuable tropical timber trees. Accurate identification of wood is required for the prevention of illicit timber trade as well as for certification purposes in the forest and wood products industry. For many years, particular interest has been focused on attempts to distinguish the wood of A. bipindensis Harms from A. pachyloba Harms due to substantial differences in the commercial values of these two species.

• Aims

We investigated if wood chemical signatures and microscopy could identify the wood of A. bipindensis and A. pachyloba.

• Methods

We used two approaches, namely metabolome profiling by direct analysis in real-time (DART) time-of-flight mass spectrometry (TOFMS) and wood microstructure by light microscopy and SEM. In all, we analyzed samples from 89 trees of A. bipindensis, and A. pachyloba.

• Results

The two species could not be separated by the IAWA standard microscopic wood features. SEM analysis showed considerable variation in the morphology of vestured pits; however, this variation was not species-specific. In contrast, DART-TOFMS followed by unsupervised statistics (Discriminant Analysis of Principal Components) showed distinct metabolome signatures of the two species.

• Conclusion

DART-TOFMS provides a rapid method for wood identification that can be easily applied to small heartwood samples. Time- and cost-effective classification of wood chemotypes by DART-TOFMS can have potential applications in various research questions in forestry, wood science, tree-ecophysiology, and forensics.

中文翻译：

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对木材进行实时（DART）飞行时间质谱（TOFMS）的直接分析揭示了两种非洲菊的独特化学特征

• 关键信息

Afzelia pachyloba 和 A. bipindensis 木材的不同化学指纹图谱证明了鉴定这两个商业上重要物种的有效方法。实时（DART）飞行时间质谱（TOFMS）的直接分析可以对化学型进行高通量检查，在木材的分类学，生态学和法医学研究中具有巨大的潜力。

•上下文

Afzelia是珍贵的热带木材树种。为了防止非法木材贸易以及森林和木制品行业的认证目的，需要对木材进行准确识别。多年来，特别关注一直集中在试图区分的木A. bipindensis危害来自A. pachyloba由于这两个品种的商业价值巨大差异危害。

•目的

我们研究了木材的化学标记和显微镜能否鉴定联产拟南芥和拟南芥的木材。

•方法

我们使用了两种方法，即通过实时直接分析（DART）飞行时间质谱（TOFMS）进行代谢组分析和通过光学显微镜和SEM观察木材的微观结构。总之，我们分析了来自A. bipindensis和A. pachyloba的89棵树的样品。

•结果

IAWA标准的微观木材特征无法区分这两个物种。扫描电镜分析表明，割坑的形貌有很大的变化。但是，这种变化不是特定于物种的。相反，DART-TOFMS和随后的无监督统计（主成分判别分析）显示了这两个物种的独特代谢组特征。

•结论

DART-TOFMS提供了一种快速的木材识别方法，可轻松应用于小型心材样品。通过DART-TOFMS对木材化学型进行时间和成本效益分类可以在林业，木材科学，树木生态生理学和法医学等各种研究问题中潜在应用。