Research on the Effect of Oriental Fruit Moth Feeding on the Quality Degradation of Chestnut Rose Juice Based on Metabolomics

Abstract

As a native fruit of China, chestnut rose (Rosa roxburghii Tratt) juice is rich in bioactive ingredients. Oriental fruit moth (OFM), Grapholita molesta (Busck), attacks the fruits and shoots of Rosaceae plants, and its feeding affects the quality and yield of chestnut rose. To investigate the effects of OFM feeding on the quality of chestnut rose juice, the bioactive compounds in chestnut rose juice produced from fruits eaten by OFM were measured. The electronic tongue senses, amino acid profile, and untargeted metabolomics assessments were performed to explore changes in the flavour and metabolites. The results showed that OFM feeding reduced the levels of superoxide dismutase (SOD), tannin, vitamin C, flavonoid, and condensed tannin; increased those of polyphenols, soluble solids, total protein, bitterness, and amounts of bitter amino acids; and decreased the total amino acid and umami amino acid levels. Furthermore, untargeted metabolomics annotated a total of 426 differential metabolites (including 55 bitter metabolites), which were mainly enriched in 14 metabolic pathways, such as flavonoid biosynthesis, tryptophan metabolism, tyrosine metabolism, and diterpenoid biosynthesis. In conclusion, the quality of chestnut rose juice deteriorated under OFM feeding stress, the levels of bitter substances were significantly increased, and the bitter taste was subsequently enhanced.

Unraveling the metabolic profile regulation of camellia oilseeds under insect and heat stress: Insights into functional effects and mechanistic basis

“…It has been well established that plants regulate secondary metabolites, particularly phenolics, in response to insect stress ( Ren et al, 2023 ; Shen et al, 2024 ; Zhuang et al, 2023 ). According to one study, the metabolite types that changed >2-fold in coconut as a result of Ceratocystis paradoxa -induced stress were primarily phenolic acids, which accounted for 15.98% of the DEMs, with the phenolic acids 4-hydroxybenzoic acid and protocatechualdehyde having the highest multiplicity of change exceeding 500 ( Shen et al, 2024 ).…”

“…Changes in metabolite enrichment reflect the inhibition or activation of certain metabolic pathways, which also represent a perturbed biological mechanism of various stresses. Many previous studies have concentrated on finding DEMs in order to better understand the metabolic pathways involved in plant physiological responses ( Li et al, 2023 ; Ren et al, 2023 ; Shen et al, 2024 ). However, there is a scarcity of information on the mechanisms associated with the effects of perturbed important AIs, and there are significant knowledge gaps of the mechanisms of the combined effects of multiple stresses, which can help us better understand the effects of stress on plant function or provide useful information for plant exploitation and utilization.…”

“…Interestingly, these three pathways are also the most disrupted by heat stress. Flavonoid biosynthesis has been discovered to be considerably disrupted metabolic pathways in various oily plants when subjected to heat stress or insect stress, including soybean (D. Zhu et al, 2022 ), coconut ( Shen et al, 2024 ), and chestnut rose ( Ren et al, 2023 ). However, previous research has not evaluated the impact of insect and heat stress on the flavonoid biosynthesis pathway at the same time.…”