Metabolite Profiling and Classification of Developing Styrax tonkinensis Kernels.

Qikui Wu,Fangyuan Yu,Chen Chen,Xue Zhao,Zihan Zhang

doi:10.3390/metabo10010021

Abstract

Background: Styrax tonkinensis is an economic tree species with high timber, medicine, oil, and ornamental value. Its seed, containing a particularly high oil content, are widely studied for their biodiesel properties by nutritional components and oil body ultrastructure. However, their comprehensive biochemical compositions have not been studied. Methods: During S. tonkinensis kernel development, we collected samples from four time points for metabolite profiling and classification through gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry. Results: A total of 187 and 1556 metabolites were obtained, respectively. All of the metabolites were grouped into 19 and 21 classes by their chemical properties and into 8 clusters based on their change trends, respectively. Among all the metabolites, carboxylic acids and derivatives, flavonoids, fatty acyls, glycerophospholipids, organooxygen compounds, prenol lipids, and steroids and steroid derivatives were the main components. Alanine, glutamine, tryptophan, tyrosine and valine were the five most abundant amino acids. Palmitic acid, stearic acid, oleic acid and linoleic acid were the four major free fatty acids. Flavans, flavonoid glycosides and o-methylated flavonoids were the three major flavonoids. The differential metabolites distributions between different time points were identified. A pathway enrichment was performed, which was mainly focused on three groups, amino acids metabolism, carbon flow from sucrose to lipid and secondary metabolites biosynthesis. Conclusions: It’s the first time to analyze the metabolite fingerprinting for developing S. tonkinensis kernels and identify varied kinds of flavonoids. We performed metabolite profiling, classification and pathway enrichment to assess the comprehensive biochemical compositions. Our results described the change in major metabolites and main metabolic processes during S. tonkinensis kernel development and provided a variety of bases for seed applications as biofuel or medicine.

Highlights

Styrax tonkinensis (Pierre) Craib ex Hartwich, a member of the Styracaceae family, has high timber, medicine, oil, and ornamental value [1,2,3]
The obtained metabolomics data of the gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) analyses adhered to a normal distribution, and a subsequent principal component analysis (PCA) showed high repeatability across biological replicates, as samples from four time points were distributed into four regions in a counter-clockwise sense except one from 100 days after flowering (DAF) in LC-MS analysis (Figure 1)
Forty S. tonkinensis plants were used in this study, which were planted in the Styracaceae

Summary

Introduction

Styrax tonkinensis (Pierre) Craib ex Hartwich, a member of the Styracaceae family, has high timber, medicine, oil, and ornamental value [1,2,3] This species has been widely cultivated for wood production as pulpwood species and benzoin resin collection used in perfumes and medicines in Laos, Vietnam and southern China [1,4]. Its seed, containing a high oil content, are widely studied for their biodiesel properties by nutritional components and oil body ultrastructure. Their comprehensive biochemical compositions have not been studied. A pathway enrichment was performed, which was mainly focused on three groups, amino acids metabolism, carbon flow from sucrose to lipid and secondary metabolites biosynthesis

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion