Centro de Investigación en Alimentación y Desarrollo A.C. Carretera a Eldorado Km 5.5, Col. Campo el Diez, Culiacán CP 80110, Sinaloa, Mexico.
Facultad de Biología, Posgrado en Ciencias Biológicas, Universidad Autónoma de Sinaloa, Calzada de las Américas Norte 2771, Col. Burócrata, Culiacán CP 80030, Sinaloa, Mexico.
Molecules. 2022 Oct 18;27(20):7013. doi: 10.3390/molecules27207013.
The eggplant is a fruit rich in natural products and produced worldwide. However, its cultivation generates a large amount of scarcely used agricultural residues with poor chemical characterization. This study aimed to identify and quantify the metabolome and determine the composition of select phytochemicals and the overall antioxidant capacity of various anatomical parts of the plant. The plant's root, leaf, stem, and fruit were analyzed by quantitative mass spectrometry-based untargeted metabolomics and chemoinformatics, and phytochemicals were quantified by spectrophotometric analysis. Moreover, we determined the total antioxidant capacity of the distinct plant parts to infer a possible biological effect of the plant's metabolites. Various secondary metabolites were identified as terpenes, phenolic compounds, alkaloids, and saponins, distributed throughout the plant. The leaf and fruit presented the highest concentration of phenolic compounds, flavonoids, anthocyanins, and alkaloids, accompanied by the highest antioxidant capacity. Although the stem and root showed the lowest abundance of secondary metabolites, they provided around 20% of such compounds compared with the leaf and fruit. Overall, our study improved the understanding of the eggplant metabolome and concluded that the plant is rich in secondary metabolites, some with antioxidant properties, and shows potential nutraceutical and biopharmaceutical applications.
茄子是一种富含天然产物的水果，在全球范围内都有种植。然而，其种植过程会产生大量未经充分利用的农业残余物，这些残余物的化学特性较差。本研究旨在鉴定和定量分析茄子各解剖部位的代谢组，并确定选择的植物化学物质的组成和整体抗氧化能力。采用基于定量质谱的非靶向代谢组学和化学生态学方法分析了茄子的根、叶、茎和果实，通过分光光度分析定量测定了植物化学物质的含量。此外，我们还测定了不同植物部位的总抗氧化能力，以推断植物代谢物可能具有的生物学效应。鉴定出了各种次生代谢物，包括萜类化合物、酚类化合物、生物碱和皂苷，这些物质分布在整个植物中。叶片和果实中酚类化合物、类黄酮、花青素和生物碱的含量最高，同时抗氧化能力也最强。尽管茎和根中的次生代谢物含量最低，但与叶片和果实相比，它们提供了约 20%的此类化合物。总的来说，本研究提高了对茄子代谢组的认识，并得出结论，茄子富含具有抗氧化特性的次生代谢物，具有潜在的营养和生物制药应用价值。
