Dossou Senouwa Segla Koffi, Deng Qianchun, Li Feng, Wang Lei, Jiang Nanjun, Kefale Habtamu, Zhou Rong, Li Donghua, Tan Meilian, Wang Linhai
Key Laboratory of Biology and Genetic Improvement of Oil Crops of the Ministry of Agriculture, Oil Crops Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Wuhan, 430062, China.
Laboratory of Plant Biotechnology and Physiology, University of Lomé, Lomé, 01 BP 1515, Togo.
BMC Plant Biol. 2025 Jan 10;25(1):38. doi: 10.1186/s12870-024-05984-8.
Perilla frutescens (L.) Britt. (Lamiaceae) leaves are essential culinary and medicinal herbs, native to East Asian countries. Three types of Perilla leaves, including green, green/purple and purple, are mainly found, and the leaf color is a critical attribute for consumer preferences. However, the extent of diversity and variability of metabolites in Perilla leaves of different colors remain elusive. Thus, in this study, we applied LC-QqQ-MS (liquid chromatography triple quadrupole tandem mass spectrometry)-based widely targeted metabolic profiling to investigate variation in the metabolite profiles of green (PF1), green/purple (PF2) and purple (PF3) Perilla leaves.
We qualitatively and quantitatively identified a total of 1239 metabolites in Perilla leaves of different colors. Amino acids and derivatives (15.50%), flavonoids (14.77%), phenolic acids (12.19%), lipids (9.60%), carbohydrates and derivatives (8.47%), organic acids and derivatives (7.99%), nucleotides and derivatives (7.99%), and terpenoids (5.25%) were the major classes of metabolites in perilla leaves. In contrast to green leaves, the principal component analysis and correlation analysis revealed a considerable influence of genotypes for the variation in purple leaves' metabolite profiles. Differentially accumulated metabolites (DAMs) analysis revealed that flavonoids, phenolic acids, and amino acids and derivatives were the major DAMs, and the phenylpropanoid pathway was the most differentially regulated. All DAMs, including four potential metabolic discriminative biomarkers, were screened out. In addition, we revealed the accumulation patterns of bioactive compounds in the leaves of different colors. It was noteworthy that most of the differentially accumulated flavonoids showed a higher relative content in PF3, followed by PF2 and PF1. Glycosylated cyanidins and delphinidins were identified as the key compounds responsible for the purple coloration of leaves. Finally, we found that the variation in glutamate metabolism may be one of the main contributors for variation in metabolite profiles and biological attributes of Perilla leaves of different colors.
Our results showed that the metabolic processes, mainly phenylpropanoid biosynthesis and amino acid metabolism, are differently regulated in green, green/purple and purple Perilla leaves. Furthermore, they offer valuable data for a comprehensive use of Perilla leaves and exploring gene-metabolites interactions in Perilla leaves.
紫苏（唇形科）叶是重要的烹饪和药用草本植物，原产于东亚国家。主要发现三种类型的紫苏叶，包括绿色、绿紫色和紫色，叶色是消费者偏好的关键属性。然而，不同颜色紫苏叶中代谢物的多样性和变异性程度仍不清楚。因此，在本研究中，我们应用基于液相色谱-三重四极杆串联质谱（LC-QqQ-MS）的广泛靶向代谢组学分析来研究绿色（PF1）、绿紫色（PF2）和紫色（PF3）紫苏叶代谢物谱的变化。
我们定性和定量鉴定了不同颜色紫苏叶中总共1239种代谢物。氨基酸及其衍生物（15.50%）、黄酮类化合物（14.77%）、酚酸（12.19%）、脂质（9.60%）、碳水化合物及其衍生物（8.47%）、有机酸及其衍生物（7.99%）、核苷酸及其衍生物（7.99%）和萜类化合物（5.25%）是紫苏叶中的主要代谢物类别。与绿叶相比，主成分分析和相关性分析表明基因型对紫叶代谢物谱的变化有相当大的影响。差异积累代谢物（DAM）分析表明，黄酮类化合物、酚酸以及氨基酸及其衍生物是主要的DAM，苯丙烷途径是差异调节最显著的途径。筛选出了所有的DAM，包括四种潜在的代谢鉴别生物标志物。此外，我们揭示了不同颜色叶片中生物活性化合物的积累模式。值得注意的是，大多数差异积累的黄酮类化合物在PF3中的相对含量较高，其次是PF2和PF1。糖基化花青素和飞燕草素被确定为导致叶片紫色的关键化合物。最后，我们发现谷氨酸代谢的变化可能是不同颜色紫苏叶代谢物谱和生物学特性变化的主要贡献因素之一。
我们的结果表明，主要是苯丙烷生物合成和氨基酸代谢的代谢过程在绿色、绿紫色和紫色紫苏叶中受到不同的调节。此外，它们为紫苏叶的综合利用和探索紫苏叶中的基因-代谢物相互作用提供了有价值的数据。
