Fruits of Lycium ruthenicum (LR) and L. barbarum (LB) in Solanaceae family contain abundant bioactive metabolites used widely as functional food and natural medicine. To characterize the fruit developmental molecular phenotypes, we comprehensively analyzed metabolite composition of both Lycium fruits at three developmental stages using the combined NMR, liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry, and gas chromatography-flame ionization detector/mass spectrometry methods. The metabonomes of these fruits were dominated by over 90 metabolites including sugars, amino acids, tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle intermediates, fatty acids, choline metabolites, and shikimate-mediated plant secondary metabolites. Metabolic phenotypes of two species differed significantly at all three developmental stages; LB fruits contained significantly more sugars and amino acids but less TCA cycle intermediates, fatty acids, and secondary metabolites than LR. Interspecies differences for fatty acid levels were much greater after color-breaking than precolor-breaking. Furthermore, LR fruits contained more osmolytes than LB fruits indicating different osmoregulation requirements for these fruits during development. Significant differences were also present in biosynthesis of shikimate-mediated plant secondary metabolites in LR and LB. These findings provided essential metabolic information for plant physiology of these Lycium species and their utilizations demonstrating the usefulness of this metabonomic phenotyping approach for studying fundamental biochemistry of the plant development.

中文翻译：

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枸杞和枸杞果实代谢组表型的种间发育差异

茄科的枸杞（Lycium ruthenicum，LR）和枸杞（L. barbarum，LB）的果实含有丰富的生物活性代谢产物，被广泛用作功能性食品和天然药物。为了表征果实发育的分子表型，我们全面分析了两种枸杞的代谢产物组成。核磁共振，液相色谱-串联质谱和气相色谱-火焰电离检测器/质谱联用的方法，在三个发育阶段获得了良好的结果。这些水果的代谢组主要由90多种代谢产物组成，包括糖，氨基酸，三羧酸（TCA）循环中间体，脂肪酸，胆碱代谢产物和sh草酸酯介导的植物次生代谢产物。在所有三个发育阶段，两种物种的代谢表型均存在显着差异。LB水果比LR水果含有更多的糖和氨基酸，但TCA循环中间体，脂肪酸和次生代谢产物较少。破色后脂肪酸水平的种间差异比破色前要大得多。此外，LR水果比LB水果含有更多的渗透压物质，表明这些水果在发育过程中对渗透压的要求不同。LR和LB中sh草酸介导的植物次生代谢产物的生物合成中也存在显着差异。这些发现为这些植物的生理提供了重要的代谢信息。 枸杞属物种及其利用证明了这种代谢组学表型分析方法对研究植物发育的基本生物化学的有用性。