Lentil (Lens culinaris; Fabaceae), one of the major pulse crops in the world, is an important source of proteins, prebiotics, lipids, and essential minerals as well as functional components such as flavonoids, polyphenols, and phenolic acids. To improve crop nutritional and medicinal traits, hybridization and mutation are widely used in plant breeding research. In this study, mutant lentil populations were generated by γ-irradiation for the development of new cultivars by inducing genetic diversity. Molecular networking via Global Natural Product Social Molecular Networking web platform and dipeptidyl peptide-IV inhibitor screening assay were utilized as tools for structure-based discovery of active components in active mutant lines selected among the lentil population. The bioactivity-based molecular networking analysis resulted in the annotation of the molecular class of phosphatidylcholine (PC) from the most active mutant line. Among PCs, 1-stearoyl-2-hydroxy-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (18:0 Lyso PC) was selected for further in vivo study of anti-obesity effect in a high-fat diet (HFD)-induced obese mouse model. The administration of 18:0 Lyso PC not only prevented body weight gain and decreased relative gonadal adipose tissue weight, but also attenuated the levels of total cholesterol, triglycerides, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and leptin in the sera of HFD-induced obese mice. Additionally, 18:0 Lyso PC treatment inhibited the increase of adipocyte area and crown-like structures in adipose tissue. Therefore, these results suggest that 18:0 Lyso PC is a potential compound to have protective effects against obesity, improving obese phenotype induced by HFD.
Keywords: 18:0 Lyso PC; Fabaceae; LC-MS/MS; Lens culinaris; anti-obesity; high-fat diet; lentil; molecular networking.