Comparative analysis of metabolite profiles from Panax herbs in specific tissues and cultivation conditions reveals the strategy of accumulation

Abstract

Panax ginseng is one of the most valuable medicinal plants in the world, and wild-forest (WG) and artificial-forest (AG) ginseng are very popular in the ginseng market, with ginsenosides constituting a majority of the bioactives. Research on the biochemical and physiological patterns of metabolic accumulation in different tissues of ginseng cultivated under various conditions is relatively scarce. We profiled metabolites using GC/MS and LC/MS to explore the bioactive component changes and interrelationships that occur in 7 tissues of WG and AG. In total, 149 primary metabolites and 46 secondary compounds were found in aboveground and belowground tissues. Metabolite changes associated with primary and secondary biochemistry were observed, and the levels of ginsenoside F2 and other compounds showed a significant correlation by statistical analysis in ginseng under both cultivation methods, as observed for secondary compounds and C and N metabolites. In addition, the number of secondary components was higher in the aboveground parts than in the belowground parts, showing a different pattern, and the same accumulation pattern of compounds involved in C and N metabolism was observed in individual plant tissues, but the high rate of photosynthesis and energy metabolism in WG provided energy for the biosynthesis of secondary compounds. Furthermore, artificial neural network models explained the variation in the secondary compounds very well via the combination of several different metabolites from WG and AG. Finally, C and N metabolism plays a key role in secondary compound biosynthesis in specific tissues and cultivation conditions and highlights large-scale metabolite patterns in WG and AG.