Metabolomics analysis of the soapberry (Sapindus mukorossi Gaertn.) pericarp during fruit development and ripening based on UHPLC-HRMS

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.

Preparation of Porous Biochar from Soapberry Pericarp at Severe Carbonization Conditions

“…The fruit is famous for the natural surfactants (i.e., saponins) present in its pericarp. Apart from its traditional use in detergents and shampoo for hair, skin and clothing, the pharmacological and biological actions of this plant have been recently exploited in the fields of medicine [14,15] and herbicides [16,17]. Because of the chemical characteristics of its saponins, it has been used in food applications as a natural preservative and emulsifier [18].…”

Triterpenoids Biosynthesis Regulation for Leaf Coloring of Wheel Wingnut (Cyclocaryapaliurus)

“…In addition, P450 family genes have also been considered triterpenoid synthesis regulators in previous studies. Although the P450 family DEGs were identified by KEGG annotation including CYP73A (1 unigene), CYP4B1(5 unigenes), CYP734A1 (6 unigenes), CYP82G1 (3 unigenes), CYP736A (15 unigenes), and CYP77A (1 unigene), they were not directly correlated with triterpenoid biosynthesis in previous studies [14]. Even so, CYP736A (14 unigenes) and CYP734A1 (6 unigenes) showed significant up-regulation in the A stage compared to the C stage.…”

“…Notably, UGT73B2 (Cluster-7239.138070, Cluster-7239.150441), UGT85K (Cluster-7239.198214, Cluster-7239.80990), and UGT85A (Cluster-7239.41467) were clustered into sub-class 6 according to the K-means method, meaning they are highly correlated with triterpenoid accumulation; while UDP-glucosyltransferase 75B1 unigenes (Cluster-7239.124835, Cluster-7239.26044) were clustered into sub-class 2, implying a negative regulation. Despite being clustered into sub-class 5, UDP-glycosyltransferase 73C3 unigenes (Cluster-7239.140635, Cluster-7239.50887, Cluster-7239.106623, Cluster-7239.90121) still showed significantly higher expression in the A stage than C stage, showing positive effects as UGT73B2, UGT85K, and UGT85A [14]. In addition, P450 family genes have also been considered triterpenoid synthesis regulators in previous studies.…”

“…Transcriptomic and metabolomic methods have helped progress the analysis of plant tissue metabolites dynamics [11][12][13]. Screening and selection of plant evaluation are directly dependent on differences in chemical composition, metabonomics method (which has unique advantages in the evaluation of medicinal plants for testing multiple ingredients at the same time) [14], comprehensive testing data [13], directly fitting the metabolic pathway, and conducting association analysis with transcriptomic results [12]. In this research, for the purpose of studying triterpenoids dynamics during C. paliurus leaf coloring, transcriptomic and metabolomic methods were conducted in different leaf color development stages.…”

Fuel Properties of Torrefied Biomass from Sapindus Pericarp Extraction Residue under a Wide Range of Pyrolysis Conditions

“…In Taiwan, soapberry (Sapindus mukorossi) is famous for its industrial use as a natural surfactant (i.e., saponins), which is present in pericarp. Apart from its traditional use in personal cleaning products like detergents and shampoos, the pharmacological and biological actions of this medicinal plant have been recently exploited in the fields of medicine [10][11][12] and herbicides [13,14]. This biosurfactant was also employed for emulsion-based products in food like beverages [15,16].…”