Haikou Experimental Station, Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences (CATAS), China.
Biomed Res Int. 2021 Mar 12;2021:6546170. doi: 10.1155/2021/6546170. eCollection 2021.
Pitaya ( genus) is a popular plant with exotic and nutritious fruit, which has widespread uses as a source of nutrients and raw materials in the pharmaceutical industry. However, the potential of pitaya peel as a natural source of bioactive compounds has not yet fully been explored. Recent advances in metabolomics have paved the way for understanding and evaluating the presence of diverse sets of metabolites in different plant parts. This study is aimed at exploring the diversity of primary and secondary metabolites in two commercial varieties of pitaya, i.e., green pitaya () and red pitaya (). A total of 433 metabolites were identified using a widely targeted metabolomic approach and classified into nine known diverse classes of metabolites, including flavonoids, amino acids and its derivatives, alkaloids, tannins, phenolic acids, organic acids, nucleotides and derivatives, lipids, and lignans. Red pitaya peel and pulp showed relatively high accumulation of metabolites viz. alkaloids, amino acids and its derivatives, and lipids. Differential metabolite landscape of pitaya fruit indicated the presence of key bioactive compounds, i.e., L-tyrosine, L-valine, DL-norvaline, tryptophan, -linolenic acid, and isorhamnetin 3-O-neohesperidoside. The findings in this study provide new insight into the broad spectrum of bioactive compounds of red and green pitaya, emphasizing the valorization of the biowaste pitaya peel as raw material for the pharmaceutical and food industries.
火龙果（属）是一种具有异域风味和营养的流行植物，其果实广泛用作营养物质和制药工业原料。然而，火龙果果皮作为生物活性化合物天然来源的潜力尚未得到充分探索。代谢组学的最新进展为理解和评估不同植物部位中不同代谢物组的存在铺平了道路。本研究旨在探索两种商业火龙果品种，即绿皮火龙果（）和红皮火龙果（）中主要和次生代谢物的多样性。使用广泛靶向的代谢组学方法鉴定了 433 种代谢物，并将其分类为九种已知的代谢物多样类，包括类黄酮、氨基酸及其衍生物、生物碱、单宁、酚酸、有机酸、核苷酸及其衍生物、脂质和木脂素。红皮火龙果果皮和果肉中相对高积累的代谢物，如生物碱、氨基酸及其衍生物和脂质。火龙果果实差异代谢物图谱表明存在关键的生物活性化合物，如 L-酪氨酸、L-缬氨酸、DL-正缬氨酸、色氨酸、亚麻酸和异鼠李素 3-O-新橙皮糖苷。本研究的结果为红皮和绿皮火龙果广泛的生物活性化合物提供了新的见解，强调了将火龙果果皮这种生物废料作为制药和食品工业原料进行增值利用的重要性。
