Seasonal Variations of Metabolome and Tyrosinase Inhibitory Activity of Lespedeza maximowiczii during Growth Periods

Abstract

Lespedeza species are useful for pasture and energy crops as well as medical plants. We determined the metabolites discriminated from the each growth period (3, 4, 6, 8, 15, and 18 months) after germination in leaves and stems of Lespedeza maximowizii by a metabolomics technique. Specifically, levels of sugars and luteolin-dominated derivatives were significantly elevated in samples harvested in November. This may be related to the cold tolerance mechanism against the low temperatures of the winter season. The concentrations of secondary metabolites, isoflavones and flavanones, as well as tyrosinase inhibitory activity were the highest in the 6 month samples, which were harvested in September, during the fall season. The tyrosinase inhibitory activity in leaves was higher than that in stems irrespective of the growth period. This study suggests that mass spectrometry-based metabolite profiling could be used as a tool to examine quantitative or qualitative metabolite changes related to seasonal variations and to understand the correlation between activity and metabolites.

Metabolite fingerprinting, pathway analyses, and bioactivity correlations for plant species belonging to the Cornaceae, Fabaceae, and Rosaceae families

“…The flavones (apigenin derivatives, luteolin, and luteolin derivatives) and isoflavones (daidzein, genistein, and formononetin) were detected in relatively higher concentrations in Fabaceae than in the other two families. Flavones and isoflavones were also reported from Bauhinia L. species, Genista tinctoria and Lespedeza maximowiczii (also included in present study), thus validating our results (Tuczkiewica et al 2004;Veitch 2013;Farag et al 2015;Kim et al 2015). In general, the present work indicates that Cornaceae, Fabaceae, and Rosaceae show clear metabolite groupings as indicated through the multivariate statistical analyses.…”

“…Here, we report that malonic acid (1), D-ribonic acid (15), xylitol (17), fucose (18), tagatofuranose (19), pinitol (20), dulcitol (23), and eleven amino acids (4-14) were observed in relatively higher proportions in Fabaceae than in Cornaceae and Rosaceae. Previously, the prominent amino acids, viz., alanine, valine, isoleucine, proline, serine, threonine, aspartic acid, GABA, glutamic acid, phenylalanine, and tryptophan, have been identified in L. maximowiczii, Sophora alopecuroides L. and several other species (Lotus corniculatus and Medicago 9 varia) of the Fabaceae family (Scherling et al 2010;Wang et al 2013;Kim et al 2015). Functionally, amino acids such as proline and glutamic acid are directly or indirectly related to the regulation of plant responses to diverse environmental stimuli, including light and mineral availability as well as biotic and abiotic stresses.…”

“…Interestingly, the proportions and metabolism of isoflavones and flavones, viz., apigenin derivatives, luteolin, luteolin derivatives, genistein, daidzein, and formononetin, were relatively higher in Fabaceae than in Cornaceae and Rosaceae. The isoflavones (daidzein, daidzein derivatives, genistein, and genistein derivatives) and flavones (apigenin, apigenin derivative, luteolin, and luteolin derivatives) were previously identified from the leaf and stem samples of L. maximowiczii and G. tinctoria L. Moreover, genistein and daidzein are predominantly synthesized in soybean and other Fabaceae genera (Jung et al 2000;Tuczkiewica et al 2004;Kim et al 2015). These metabolites have crucial roles, particularly in plant defense from pest invasion and the onset of root nodulation through the establishment of symbiotic relationship with nitrogen-fixing rhizobial bacteria (Jung et al 2000;Galili and Hofgen 2002).…”

Spatial and Temporal Variations in Secondary Metabolites Content of the Brazilian Arnica Leaves (Lychnophora ericoides Mart., Asteraceae)

“…6,7 Their accumulation in plants is described in the literature, as being influenced by changes in the environmental conditions, such as temperature, sunlight, water availability, pollution, nutrients, herbivore and microbial attacks and others. [8][9][10] As a strategy to adapt and survive under damaging conditions, plants use many complex biochemical processes to create chemical defense mechanisms, and this behavior cannot be neglected in pharmacology of medicinal plants. Thus, there are many phytochemical studies evaluating seasonal effects in the bioactive secondary metabolite production, [11][12][13] and relating their importance to the environment, 8 to understand the behavior of these plants.…”

Find the Needle in the Haystack, Then Find It Again: Replication and Validation in the ‘Omics Era

“…Replication is particularly challenging for metabolomics, given that circulating metabolites are subject to metabolic flux (up-regulation or down-regulation of biochemical pathways), even in the absence of alterations to upstream ‘omics that influence metabolism. This phenomenon contributes not only to inter-individual variability (which is relatively easy to control or account for in the study design or statistical analysis), but also intra-individual variability in compounds due to factors for which researchers do not typically collect information, such as time of day of data collection [ 7 ], season [ 8 ], and circadian or hormonal cycles [ 9 ]. Therefore, most efforts to confirm ‘omics findings fall under the umbrella of validation (discussed in the next section) rather than true replication.…”