The purpose of the current study was to identify and quantify triterpenoids and other non-polar compounds in the leaves of three high bush blueberry cultivars (Vaccinium corymbosum L. var. Bluegold, var. Bluecrop and var. Elliott) and three natural populations of Vaccinium species (Vaccinium uliginosum L., Vaccinium myrtillus L. and Vaccinium vitis-idaea L.) by means of gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and high-performance liquid chromatography with diode array detector (HPLC-DAD). Metabolite profiles differed significantly among the Vaccinium species analyzed, as well as among the populations of the same species. The populations of V. vitis-idaea predominantly contained relative concentrations of phytosterols (varying between 10.48% of total ion current (TIC) and 22.29% of TIC) and almost twice the content of triterpenes (from 29.84% of TIC to 49.62% of TIC) of the other berry species investigated. The leaves of V. corymbosum varieties biosynthesized the highest relative amount of fatty acids, while the leaves of the populations of V. uliginosum had the highest relative concentrations of fatty alcohols. The results of principal component analysis (PCA) and hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) showed that the diverse populations of each berry species analyzed differed from each other, most likely due to variations in the climatic and geographical conditions of their localities.
Keywords: GC-MS; HPLC; Vaccinium corymbosum L.; Vaccinium myrtillus L.; Vaccinium uliginosum L.; Vaccinium vitis-idaea L.; hierarchical cluster analysis; phytosterols; principal component analysis; triterpenes.