Heteromorphic self-incompatibility (HetSI) is a strategy used to prevent selfing while favouring outcrossing in angiosperm. Although the genome, proteome and metabolome of homomorphic self-incompatibility (HomSI) have been investigated, metabolome findings have shown that energy deficiency is one of the factors leading to HomSI. However, the mechanism of HetSI remains unclear. This study investigates the alterations of metabolite fluxes in HetSI. Here, metabolic changes present in dimorphic styles as well as between self-incompatibility (SI) and self-compatibility (SC) pollinations of Plumbago auriculata Lam were simultaneously determined by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS). Fifty-three metabolites, mainly including other organic acids, amino acids, carbohydrates/glycosides, fatty acids/lipids, amines, amides, flavonoids and alcohols, were detected. The overall results showed that carbohydrates, which may affect pollen germination and pollen tube growth rate on stigmas, were abundant in S (short styles without pollination). Moreover, energy deficiency may not be a reason for HetSI because we found inflated levels of metabolites in SI pollinations. This study provided detailed insight into metabolic changes in HetSI and evidence for further studies of HetSI.

异形自我不相容性（HetSI）是一种策略，用于防止自交，同时有利于被子植物的异交。尽管已经对同型自我不相容性（HomSI）的基因组，蛋白质组和代谢组进行了研究，但代谢组学研究结果表明能量缺乏是导致HomSI的因素之一。但是，HetSI的机制仍不清楚。本研究调查了HetSI中代谢物通量的变化。这里，代谢改变存在于二形样式，以及自交不亲和性（SI）和自交亲和性（SC）的授粉之间蓝雪花气相色谱-质谱法（GC-MS）同时测定潜伏期。共检测到53种代谢物，主要包括其他有机酸，氨基酸，碳水化合物/糖苷，脂肪酸/脂质，胺，酰胺，类黄酮和醇。总体结果表明，碳水化合物（可能影响花粉萌发和花粉管在柱头上的生长速度）中的S含量很高（不含花粉的短花型）。此外，能量不足可能不是HetSI的原因，因为我们发现SI授粉中代谢产物的水平升高。这项研究为HetSI的代谢变化提供了详细的见识，并为进一步研究HetSI提供了证据。