Abstract
Sweet corn (Zea mays convar. saccharata var. rugosa) is a major economic vegetable crop. Different sweet corn cultivars vary largely in flavor, texture, and nutrition. The present study performed widely targeted metabolomics analysis based on the HPLC-MS/MS technology to analyze the metabolic profiles in three sweet corn cultivars widely grown in China. A total of 568 metabolites in the three sweet corn cultivars were detected, of which 262 differential metabolites significantly changed among cultivars. Carbohydrates, organic acids, and amino acids were the majority detected primary metabolites. Organic acids were mainly concentrated on shikimate, benzoic acids, and quinic acid with aromatic groups. And the essential amino acids for the human body, methionine and threonine, were highly accumulated in the high-quality cultivar. In addition, phenylpropanoids and alkaloids were the most enriched secondary metabolites while terpenes were low-detected in sweet corn kernels. We found that the flavonoids exist in both free form and glycosylated form in sweet corn kernels. PCA and HCA revealed clear separations among the three sweet corn cultivars, suggesting distinctive metabolome profiles among three cultivars. The differential metabolites were mapped into flavonoid biosynthesis, phenylpropanoid biosynthesis, biosynthesis of amino acids, and other pathways according to the KEGG classification. Furthermore, we identified skimmin, N′,N″-diferuloylspermidine, and 3-hydroxyanthranilic acid as the key quality-related metabolites related to grain quality traits in sweet corn. The results suggested variations of metabolic composition among the three cultivars, providing the reference quality-related metabolites for sweet corn breeding.
Highlights
Corn (Zea mays) is a member of the Poaceae family, with field corn and sweet corn as two main types
We focused on the ten metabolites showing significant differences among all cultivars (Figure 3(d))
The widely targeted metabolic profiling in three sweet corn cultivars with the difference in grain quality was investigated through HPLC-mass spectrometry (MS)/MS analysis
Summary
Corn (Zea mays) is a member of the Poaceae family, with field corn and sweet corn as two main types. Matured field corn is used as livestock feed, ethanol, cereal, and processed food products, while immature sweet corn is harvested and used as vegetable and fruit [1]. Sweet corn is derived from the endosperm mutant of the cultivated corn [2, 3]. Various cultivars of sweet corn have different grain quality, mainly due to their evaluation criteria during the breeding process. These standard quality-related criteria are sweet, tender pericarp, and long-lasting quality, which ignores the key quality-related nutrient components
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