COMPARING GC×GC-TOFMS-BASED METABOLOMIC PROFILING AND WOOD ANATOMY FOR FORENSIC IDENTIFICATION OF FIVE MELIACEAE (MAHOGANY) SPECIES

Illegal logging and associated trade have increased worldwide. Such environmental crimes represent a major threat to forest ecosystems society, causing distortions in market prices, economic instability, ecological deterioration, poverty. To prevent illegal imports of products, there is need develop wood identification methods for identifying tree species regulated by the Convention on International Trade Species Wild Fauna andFlora (CITES) other look-alike species. In this exploratory study, we applied metabolomic profiling five (Swietenia mahagoni, Swietenia macrophylla, Cedrela odorata, Khaya ivorensis, Toona ciliata) using two-dimensional gas chromatog- raphy combined with time-of-flight mass spectrometry (GC3GC-TOFMS). We also performed qualitative, quantitative (based measurement vessel area, tangential lumina diameter,vessel element length, ray height, width), machine-vision aided (XyloTron) anatomy subsample specimens explore thepotential limits each approach. Fifty dried xylaria were ground, extracted methanol, subsequently analyzed GC3GC-TOFMS. four genera could easily be identified qualitative chemical profiling. At spe- cies level, macrophylla mahagoni found share many metabolites only differentiated after feature selection guided cluster resolution (FS-CR) visualization Principal Component Analysis (PCA). Expectedly, from two Swiete- nia spp. not distinguished based anatomy. However, significant differences anatomical features obtained these Excluding T. ciliata that was included reference database end grain images at time testing (2021), XyloTron successfully identify majority right genus 50% The tool particularly successful odorata samples, where all samples correctly identified. Despite limited number available thisstudy, our preliminary results indicate GC3GC-TOFMS-based profiles used as comple- mentary method differentiate CITES-regulated levels.