A Widely Metabolomic Analysis Revealed Metabolic Alterations of <i>Epimedium Pubescens</i> Leaves at Different Growth Stages

• Main Authors: Zhenxian Qin, Dengqun Liao, Yalan Chen, Chenyang Zhang, Ruipeng An, Qing Zeng, Xian’en Li
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2019-12-01
• Series: Molecules
• Subjects: <i>epimedium pubescens</i> maxim.; flavonoid content; lc-ms/ms; widely targeted metabolome; uplc-esi-ms/ms; growth period
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/1420-3049/25/1/137

<i>Epimedium</i> folium is the major medicinally-used organ of <i>Epimedium</i> species and its metabolic changes during the leaf growth have not been studied at the metabolomic level. <i>E. pubescens</i> is one of five recorded species in the Pharmacopoeia of the People&#8217;s Republic of China and widely grows in China. A UPLC-ESI-MS/MS-based targeted metabolomic analysis was implemented to explore the metabolite composition in <i>E. pubescens</i> leaves under the cultivation condition and further to investigate their temporal variations among four representative growth stages. A total of 403 metabolites, including 32 hitherto known in <i>Epimedium</i> species, were identified in <i>E. pubescens</i> leaf, of which 302 metabolites showed the growth/development-dependent alterations. Flavonoid-type compounds were the major composition of the metabolites identified in this study. Most flavonoids, together with tannin-type and lignans and coumarin-type compounds, were up-regulated with <i>E. pubescens</i> leaf growth and maturation after the full flowering stage. Our results not only greatly enriched the existing <i>Epimedium</i> phytochemical composition database and also, for the first time, provided the metabolomics-wide information on metabolic changes during <i>E. pubescens</i> leaf growth and development, which would facilitate in the choice of an optimum harvest time to balance a higher biomass yield of <i>Epimedium</i> folium with its better medicinal quality.