Comparative metabolomics combined with genome sequencing provides insights into novel wolfberry-specific metabolites and their formation mechanisms

Qiyuan Long; Changjian Zhang; Hui Zhu; Yutong Zhou; Shuo Liu; Yanchen Liu; Xuemin Ma; Wei An; Jun Zhou; Jianhua Zhao; Yuanyuan Zhang; Cheng Jin

doi:10.3389/fpls.2024.1392175

Comparative metabolomics combined with genome sequencing provides insights into novel wolfberry-specific metabolites and their formation mechanisms

Front Plant Sci. 2024 Apr 26:15:1392175. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2024.1392175. eCollection 2024.

Authors

Qiyuan Long^{1

2}, Changjian Zhang^{1

2}, Hui Zhu^{1

2}, Yutong Zhou², Shuo Liu^{1

2}, Yanchen Liu^{1

2}, Xuemin Ma³, Wei An⁴, Jun Zhou⁵, Jianhua Zhao⁴, Yuanyuan Zhang^{1

2}, Cheng Jin^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ School of Breeding and Multiplication (Sanya Institute of Breeding and Multiplication), Hainan University, Sanya, China.
² School of Tropical Agriculture and Forestry, Hainan University, Haikou, Hainan, China.
³ Department of Forest Genetics and Plant Physiology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Umeå, Sweden.
⁴ National Wolfberry Engineering Research Center, Wolfberry Science Research Institute, Ningxia Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences, Yinchuan, China.
⁵ College of Biological Science and Engineering, North Minzu University, Yinchuan, China.

Abstract

Wolfberry (Lycium, of the family Solanaceae) has special nutritional benefits due to its valuable metabolites. Here, 16 wolfberry-specific metabolites were identified by comparing the metabolome of wolfberry with those of six species, including maize, rice, wheat, soybean, tomato and grape. The copy numbers of the riboflavin and phenyllactate degradation genes riboflavin kinase (RFK) and phenyllactate UDP-glycosyltransferase (UGT1) were lower in wolfberry than in other species, while the copy number of the phenyllactate synthesis gene hydroxyphenyl-pyruvate reductase (HPPR) was higher in wolfberry, suggesting that the copy number variation of these genes among species may be the main reason for the specific accumulation of riboflavin and phenyllactate in wolfberry. Moreover, the metabolome-based neighbor-joining tree revealed distinct clustering of monocots and dicots, suggesting that metabolites could reflect the evolutionary relationship among those species. Taken together, we identified 16 specific metabolites in wolfberry and provided new insight into the accumulation mechanism of species-specific metabolites at the genomic level.

Keywords: copy number variation; metabolome; nutrition; phenyllactate; riboflavin.

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This work is supported by the Key Research & Development Program of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region [grant number 2022BBF01001 and 2021BEF02002], the National Natural Science Foundation of China [grant number U23A20221], the Innovative Research Group Project of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region [grant number 2021AAC01001], and the Innovation Team for Genetic Improvement of Economic Forests [grant number 2022QCXTD04].