School of Pharmacy, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, 138 Xianlin Avenue, Nanjing, 210023, P. R. China.
Chinese Medicine Research Institute, Jumpcan Pharmaceutical Group Co., Ltd, Baotawan, Daqing West Road, Taizhou, 25441, P. R. China.
Phytochem Anal. 2021 Nov;32(6):899-906. doi: 10.1002/pca.3033. Epub 2021 Feb 28.
Dandelion (Taraxacum mongolicum Hand.-Mazz.) is a perennial herb with diverse pharmacological effects. The development and utilization of dandelion have attracted much attention.
Our aims were to provide a reference basis for the identification of the origin of dandelions and to study the influence of their origin on their quality. Methods High-performance liquid chromatography coupled with quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry was used to analyze metabolites from dandelions from four different geographical regions in China, namely Gansu, Henan, Shanxi, and Jiangsu. Metabolite analysis was performed using orthogonal partial least-squares discriminant analysis, and to identify potential metabolic pathways, MBRole was used to perform Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway enrichment analysis.
Principal component analysis revealed that the chemical components of dandelions sampled from the four regions showed noticeable differences. Twenty-six, six, six, eight, eight, and fifteen differentially produced metabolites were identified upon comparison between Gansu and Jiangsu, Gansu and Shanxi, Gansu and Henan, Henan and Shanxi, Henan and Jiangsu, and Shanxi and Jiangsu, respectively. These differentially produced metabolites were mainly phenolic compounds. Further, KEGG pathway enrichment analysis showed that the main metabolic pathways involved were biosynthesis of phenylpropanoids and flavonoids.
The methods reported herein can be used to identify the origin of dandelions; moreover, our results can serve as a reference basis for future studies.
蒲公英（Taraxacum mongolicum Hand.-Mazz.）是一种多年生草本植物，具有多种药理学作用。蒲公英的开发和利用引起了广泛关注。
旨在为蒲公英的产地鉴定提供参考依据，并研究其产地对质量的影响。方法：采用高效液相色谱-四极杆飞行时间质谱联用技术对中国甘肃、河南、山西、江苏四个不同产地的蒲公英进行代谢物分析。采用正交偏最小二乘判别分析进行代谢物分析，并用 MBRole 进行京都基因与基因组百科全书（KEGG）通路富集分析，以鉴定潜在的代谢途径。
主成分分析显示，四个产地采集的蒲公英化学成分差异明显。甘肃与江苏、甘肃与山西、甘肃与河南、河南与山西、河南与江苏、山西与江苏之间分别有 26、6、6、8、8 和 15 个差异代谢产物。这些差异代谢产物主要为酚类化合物。进一步的 KEGG 通路富集分析表明，主要代谢途径涉及苯丙烷和黄酮类化合物的生物合成。
本文报道的方法可用于鉴定蒲公英的产地，为今后的研究提供参考依据。
