LC-MS metabolic profiling comparison of domesticated crops and wild edible species from the family Asteraceae growing in a region of São Paulo state, Brazil

Abstract

• Metabolic profile comparison of three domesticated and six wild species. • Results were similar to chemophenetics at the tribal level. • Bidens , Youngia and Acmella had metabolic profile distinguished from other species. • Cichorium endivia was more similar to some wild species than C. intybus. Wild plants are consumed as food mainly during periods of famine and by poorer populations but could be alternatives to improve food variety in regions with high biodiversity. Wild edible plants can be a rich source of nutrients and/or dietary phytochemicals (secondary metabolites), but there has thus far been a lack of studies comparing the chemical composition of wild with domesticated species. This study presents an LC–MS-based metabolic profiling approach to compare chemical profiles of three domesticated and six wild edible plants from the family Asteraceae that are popular worldwide. Metabolic profiles of the leaves of the following species were compared: Cichorium endivia , C. intybus , Lactuca sativa , L. canadensis , Sonchus oleraceus, and Youngia japonica from the tribe Cichorieae, Acmella oleracea , tribe Heliantheae, Bidens pilosa , tribe Coreopsideae, and Galinsoga parviflora , tribe Millerieae, of which the first three are domesticated species and the latter six wild species. Chemical profile similarity of the investigated species followed chemophenetic characteristics at the tribal level. The presence of chalcones, flavanones, and aurones in B. pilosa and alkylamides in A. oleracea distinguished their chemical profiles from the other samples. The profile of Cichorium intybus was distinct from the other species from the tribe Cichorieae. Samples of L. canadensis , S. oleraceus, and C. endivia showed similar chemical profiles with each other and with a few L. sativa samples. Although wild edible plants are reported in the literature as a richer source of secondary metabolites than domesticated ones, this study highlights the chemical diversity in Asteraceae species focusing the importance of the taxonomic relationship and the metabolic profiles of the samples, since domesticated and wild species belonging to the same tribe showed similar chemical profiles.