Widely targeted metabolic analysis revealed the changed pigmentation and bioactive compounds in the ripening Berchemia floribunda (Wall.) Brongn. fruit

Liang Shuai; Huan Liu; Lingyan Liao; Tingting Lai; Ziying Lai; Xinxin Du; Zhenhua Duan; Zhenxian Wu; Tao Luo

doi:10.1002/fsn3.2093

Widely targeted metabolic analysis revealed the changed pigmentation and bioactive compounds in the ripening Berchemia floribunda (Wall.) Brongn. fruit

Food Sci Nutr. 2021 Jan 20;9(3):1375-1387. doi: 10.1002/fsn3.2093. eCollection 2021 Mar.

Authors

Liang Shuai¹, Huan Liu², Lingyan Liao¹, Tingting Lai³, Ziying Lai³, Xinxin Du³, Zhenhua Duan¹, Zhenxian Wu³, Tao Luo³

Affiliations

¹ College of Food and Biological Engineering/Institute of Food Science and Engineering Technology Hezhou University Hezhou China.
² Sichuan Minzu College Kangding China.
³ South China Agricultural University/Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Postharvest Science of Fruits and Vegetables/Engineering Research Center for Postharvest Technology of Horticultural Crops in South China College of Horticulture Ministry of Education Guangzhou China.

Abstract

Berchemia plants were important materials for Chinese traditional medicines due to their special secondary metabolites. Unlike the root, stem and leaf tissues, Berchemia floribunda (Wall.) Brongn. fruit was lacked of systematic metabolic investigation. Biochemical analysis found that the total flavonoid and total phenolic content of Berchemia fruit pulp showed a peak value at red ripe stage, and then decreased, but the total anthocyanin content sharply increased along with the coloration. By widely targeted metabolomic analysis, 644 metabolites were identified and categorized into 23 groups mainly including flavonoid, organic acids, amino acids, lipids, phenylpropanoid, nucleotides, alkaloids, carbohydrates, alcohols, anthocyanins & proanthocyanidins, vitamins, terpenes, polyphenols, phenolamides, quinones, indole derivatives, and sterides. Among them, 111 metabolites and 123 metabolites respectively showed up- and down-regulation from break stage to full mature. KEGG enrichment analysis indicated that active secondary metabolism such as biosynthesis of phenylpropanoids, flavonoid, and alkaloids happened during Berchemia fruit ripening. More importantly, Cyanidin-3-O-galactoside and other 3 cyanidins were found to be the predominant pigments in mature Berchemia fruit and increased cyanidins and pelargonidins but decreased anthocyanins might be contributed to the purple pigmentation of Berchemia fruit. Interestingly, 29 pharmaceutical compounds previously reported in other Berchemia tissues were also detected in ripening Berchemia fruit pulp: 8 flavonoid, 2 quinones & sucrose showed up-regulated accumulation while 6 polyphenols, 5 flavonoid, 3 phenylpropanoid, 2 organic acids, 1 quinones and β-sitosterol showed down-regulated accumulation In conclusion, our first comprehensive metabolic fingerprint will promote the further study of B. floribunda fruit and its medical and food application.

Keywords: Berchemia floribunda (Wall.) Brongn. fruit; anthocyanins; flavonoid; phenylpropanoids; widely targeted metabolic analysis; bioactive compounds.