Abstract
Soapberry (Sapindus mukorossi Gaertn.) is a multi-functional tree with widespread application in toiletries, biomedicine, biomass energy, and landscaping. The pericarp of soapberry can be used as a medicine or detergent. However, there is currently no systematic study on the chemical constituents of soapberry pericarp during fruit development and ripening, and the dynamic changes in these constituents still unclear. In this study, a non-targeted metabolomics approach using ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-high resolution mass spectrometry (UHPLC-HRMS) was used to comprehensively profile the variations in metabolites in the soapberry pericarp at eight fruit growth stages. The metabolome coverage of UHPLC-HRMS on a HILIC column was higher than that of a C18 column. A total of 111 metabolites were putatively annotated. Principal component analysis and hierarchical clustering analysis of pericarp metabolic composition revealed clear metabolic shifts from early (S1–S2) to late (S3–S5) development stages to fruit ripening stages (S6–S8). Furthermore, pairwise comparison identified 57 differential metabolites that were involved in 18 KEGG pathways. Early fruit development stages (S1–S2) were characterized by high levels of key fatty acids, nucleotides, organic acids, and phosphorylated intermediates, whereas fruit ripening stages (S6–S8) were characterized by high contents of bioactive and valuable metabolites, such as troxipide, vorinostat, furamizole, alpha-tocopherol quinone, luteolin, and sucrose. S8 (fully developed and mature stage) was the most suitable stage for fruit harvesting to utilize the pericarp. To the best of our knowledge, this was the first metabolomics study of the soapberry pericarp during whole fruit growth. The results could offer valuable information for harvesting, processing, and application of soapberry pericarp, as well as highlight the metabolites that could mediate the biological activity or properties of this medicinal plant.
Highlights
Soapberry (Sapindus mukorossi Gaertn.) is a multi-functional tree with widespread application in toiletries, biomedicine, biomass energy, and landscaping
UHPLC-HRMS-based untargeted metabolomic approaches were used for metabolic profiling of the soapberry pericarp at eight different growth stages
We identified 34 amino acids and their derivatives, 12 organic acids, 10 fatty acids, nine amines, six flavonoids, six nucleotides and their derivatives, five alkaloids, four carbohydrates, four terpenoids, and 21 other metabolites in the soapberry pericarp
Summary
Soapberry (Sapindus mukorossi Gaertn.) is a multi-functional tree with widespread application in toiletries, biomedicine, biomass energy, and landscaping. A non-targeted metabolomics approach using ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-high resolution mass spectrometry (UHPLC-HRMS) was used to comprehensively profile the variations in metabolites in the soapberry pericarp at eight fruit growth stages. Modern pharmacological studies have shown that soapberry pericarp has anti-inflammatory, anti-tumor, anti-bacterial, anti-viral, hepatoprotective, insecticidal, and other bioactivities[3,4,5,6,7] It is rich in saponins, has good non-ionic surface activity, high foaming property, and strong decontamination ability that can replace commonly used raw materials for detergent production[8]. The chemical components of soapberry pericarp may vary during different fruit growth stages; to ensure its medicinal quality, it is important that soapberry is harvested at the right time. The combination of RPLC and HILIC can optimize the separation of compounds and expand the coverage of the metabolome
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