Metabolite fingerprinting, pathway analyses, and bioactivity correlations for plant species belonging to the Cornaceae, Fabaceae, and Rosaceae families

Abstract

A multi-parallel approach gauging the mass spectrometry-based metabolite fingerprinting coupled with bioactivity and pathway evaluations could serve as an efficacious tool for inferring plant taxonomic orders. Thirty-four species from three plant families, namely Cornaceae (7), Fabaceae (9), and Rosaceae (18) were subjected to metabolite profiling using gas chromatography-time-of-flight-mass spectrometry (GC-TOF-MS) and ultrahigh performance liquid chromatography-linear trap quadrupole-ion trap-mass spectrometry (UHPLC-LTQ-IT-MS/MS), followed by multivariate analyses to determine the metabolites characteristic of these families. The partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) revealed the distinct clustering pattern of metabolites for each family. The pathway analysis further highlighted the relatively higher proportions of flavonols and ellagitannins in the Cornaceae family than in the other two families. Higher levels of phenolic acids and flavan-3-ols were observed among species from the Rosaceae family, while amino acids, flavones, and isoflavones were more abundant among the Fabaceae family members. The antioxidant activities of plant extracts were measured using ABTS, DPPH, and FRAP assays, and indicated that extracts from the Rosaceae family had the highest activity, followed by those from Cornaceae and Fabaceae. The correlation map analysis positively links the proportional concentration of metabolites with their relative antioxidant activities, particularly in Cornaceae and Rosaceae. This work highlights the pre-eminence of the multi-parallel approach involving metabolite profiling and bioactivity evaluations coupled with metabolic pathways as an efficient methodology for the evaluation of plant phylogenies.

Exploring the metabolomic diversity of plant species across spatial (leaf and stem) components and phylogenic groups

“…The levels of amino acids are relatively higher in Fabaceae species compared to Cornaceae and Rosaceae [15]. Further, genistein, an important isoflavone is well reported from soybean and other edible Fabaceae species, along with naringenin and isoorientin [21].…”

“…Ultra performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole-time of flight mass spectrometry (UPLC-Q-TOF-MS) analysis UPLC-Q-TOF-MS analyses were performed using a Waters Micromass Q-TOF Premier as described by Son et al [15]. The mobile phase consisted of 0.1% v/v formic acid in water (A) and in acetonitrile (B).…”

“…Previously, discriminant metabolites, including the flavonoid contents in plant extracts, have been reported for varying taxonomic orders. However, the spatial metabolic disparity between different plant parts (leaves and stems) has not been deconstructed comprehensively [8,15]. In general, the chemical composition of different plant parts is largely influenced by genetic factors, nutritional status, and geo-climatic conditions [16].…”

Effects of Funneliformis mosseae on Root Metabolites and Rhizosphere Soil Properties to Continuously-Cropped Soybean in the Potted-Experiments

“…R (version: 2.13, Mathsoft Inc., Cambridge, MA, USA) was for the GC-MS raw data processing, and SIMCA-p software (version 11.5, Umetrics, Umea, Sweden) was used to analyze the root exudates of continuously cropped soybean [44]. We used PLS-DA for the differential metabolite screening, and variable importance plot (VIP) values (VIP value > 1, and p < 0.05) were used to identify the differently abundant metabolites [24]. …”

“…The non-target or complete metabolome aims to comprehensively describe all potential metabolites in one tissue without bias. At the same time, GC-MS (Gas Chromatography–Mass Spectrometry) and LC-MS (Liquid Chromatography–Mass Spectrometry) have been widely used to detecting a variety of plant metabolites [23,24], However, there are few studies reporting the results of applying metabolomics to the understanding of how AMF alleviates problems in continuous cropping. Therefore, two soybean cultivars that differ in terms of root rot resistance were selected as the experimental material in this study.…”