Abies is the second largest genus in the Pinaceae family, which consists of dark coniferous trees found in temperate regions. Abies Korean Wilson, known commonly as Korean fir, is a native and endemic species in South Korea. Using leaves of Abies koreana Wils, we employed a solvent extraction and HPLC analysis to quantify the expression level of secondary metabolites (SMs). In addition, we analyzed the relationship between the SMs and climate factors such as rainfall, air temperature, and humidity using multiple regression/correlation analysis.
Results/Conclusions
The expression of piceid showed a non-homoscedasticity, and the level of other SMs was significantly affected in response to the sampling site. Results of simple correlation and regression analysis between the expression level of the SMs and climate factors suggest that precipitation and temperature significantly influenced the expression level of the SMs, including piceid, resveratrol, protocatechuic acid, 4-hydroxybenzoic acid, taxifolin, Dehydroabietic acid and p-coumaric acid. In addition, our data suggest that the monthly mean temperatures for 2 months and monthly mean rainfall also significantly influenced the expression level of the secondary metabolites in Abies koreana. However, further studies are warranted to better understand the relationships.