Profiling of widely targeted metabolomics for the identification of chemical composition in epidermis, xylem and pith of Gleditsiae Spina

Abstract

Gleditsiae Spina, the thorn of Gleditsia sinensis Lam., has a long history of being used as a traditional medicine in East Asian countries. However, only a few biologically active substances have been identified from it. In this study, the epidermis, xylem and pith of Gleditsiae Spina, respectively Gs‐E, Gs‐X and Gs‐P, were studied. We used a widely targeted metabolomics method to investigate the chemical composition of Gs‐E, Gs‐X and Gs‐P. A total of 728 putative metabolites were identified from Gleditsiae Spina, including 211 primary metabolites and 517 secondary metabolites. These primary and secondary metabolites could be categorized into more than 10 different classes. Flavonoids, phenolic acids, lipids, amino acids and derivatives, and organic acids constituted the main metabolite groups. Multivariate statistical analysis showed that the Gs‐E, Gs‐X and Gs‐P samples could be clearly separated. Differential accumulated metabolite (DAM) analysis revealed that more than half of the DAMs exhibited the highest relative concentrations in Gs‐E, and most of the DAMs showed the lowest relative concentrations in Gs‐X. Moreover, 11 common differential primary metabolites and 79 common differential secondary metabolites were detected in all comparison groups. These results further our understanding of chemical composition and metabolite accumulation of Gleditsiae Spina.

Waterlogging in soil restricts the growth of Gleditsia sinensis seedlings and inhibits the accumulation of lignans and phenolic acids in thorns

“…Recent scientific literature has witnessed significant contributions regarding the metabolic composition, isolation, and identification from the thorns of G. sinensis ( Zhang et al, 2020 ; Zeng et al, 2023 ; Yu et al, 2017 ), the differences in chemical composition between the epidermis, xylem, and pith in thorns ( Ya et al, 2022 ), metabolite accumulation in different tissues of G. sinensis under conditions of drought stress and rehydration ( Liu et al, 2020 ). In our current study, a comprehensive analysis identified a total of 836 putative metabolites in the thorn ( Table S2 ).…”

“…Fatty acids play essential roles as precursors of cuticular waxes in the plant cuticle and are specific to various membrane lipids, contributing to membrane homeostasis. It has been reported by Ya et al. (2022) that fatty acids accounted for a considerable proportion of the thorn metabolites and may contribute to its hardness ( Ya et al, 2022 ).…”

“…The previously dried plant roots, stems, and leaves were subjected to further processing for the purpose of determining the content of nutrient elements. K, Ca, Mg, Fe, Cu, Zn, Mo, and Mn were quantified using inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) according to the method of Yu et al, (2014) .…”

Comprehensive profiling of chemical composition of Gleditsiae spina using ultra‐high‐performance liquid chromatography coupled with electrospray ionization quadrupole time‐of‐flight mass spectrometry

“…At present, only a few comprehensive profiles of GS chemical composition have been reported 25 . Besides, their identification mode mainly depended on the databases susceptible to imperfection accredited to nonuniform liquid‐phase MS conditions and incompetency for identifying novel compounds.…”

“…[19][20][21][22][23][24] At present, only a few comprehensive profiles of GS chemical composition have been reported. 25 Besides, their identification mode mainly depended on the databases susceptible to imperfection accredited to nonuniform liquid-phase MS conditions and incompetency for identifying novel compounds. To solve these problems, we established a four-step data mining strategy combined with UHPLC-QTOF-MS/MS technology to profile the chemical composition of GS.…”