Widely targeted metabolic analysis revealed the changed pigmentation and bioactive compounds in the ripening (Wall.) Brongn. fruit.

plants were important materials for Chinese traditional medicines due to their special secondary metabolites. Unlike the root, stem and leaf tissues, (Wall.) Brongn. fruit was lacked of systematic metabolic investigation. Biochemical analysis found that the total flavonoid and total phenolic content of fruit pulp showed a peak value at red ripe stage, and then decreased, but the total anthocyanin content sharply increased along with the coloration. By widely targeted metabolomic analysis, 644 metabolites were identified and categorized into 23 groups mainly including flavonoid, organic acids, amino acids, lipids, phenylpropanoid, nucleotides, alkaloids, carbohydrates, alcohols, anthocyanins & proanthocyanidins, vitamins, terpenes, polyphenols, phenolamides, quinones, indole derivatives, and sterides. Among them, 111 metabolites and 123 metabolites respectively showed up- and down-regulation from break stage to full mature. KEGG enrichment analysis indicated that active secondary metabolism such as biosynthesis of phenylpropanoids, flavonoid, and alkaloids happened during fruit ripening. More importantly, Cyanidin-3--galactoside and other 3 cyanidins were found to be the predominant pigments in mature fruit and increased cyanidins and pelargonidins but decreased anthocyanins might be contributed to the purple pigmentation of fruit. Interestingly, 29 pharmaceutical compounds previously reported in other tissues were also detected in ripening fruit pulp: 8 flavonoid, 2 quinones & sucrose showed up-regulated accumulation while 6 polyphenols, 5 flavonoid, 3 phenylpropanoid, 2 organic acids, 1 quinones and β-sitosterol showed down-regulated accumulation In conclusion, our first comprehensive metabolic fingerprint will promote the further study of fruit and its medical and food application.