Skip to main content

ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Plant Sci.
Sec. Plant Metabolism and Chemodiversity
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpls.2024.1468858
This article is part of the Research Topic Secondary Metabolites in Beverage Plant: Metabolism, Function, and Regulation View all articles

Dynamics of flavonoid metabolites in coconut water based on metabolomics perspective

Provisionally accepted
Mingming Hou Mingming Hou 1Jerome Jeyakumar John Martin Jerome Jeyakumar John Martin 2Yuqiao Song Yuqiao Song 1,2Qi Wang Qi Wang 2,3Hongxing Cao Hongxing Cao 2,4Wenrao Li Wenrao Li 1*Chengxu Sun Chengxu Sun 2*
  • 1 School of Life Sciences, Henan University, Kaifeng, Henan Province, China
  • 2 Coconut Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences, Wenchang, China
  • 3 College of Wine and Horticulture,Ningxia University, Ningxia, China
  • 4 National Key Laboratory of Tropical Crop Breeding, Institute of Tropical Bioscience and Biotechnology, Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences, Haikou,, Hainan, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Coconut meat and coconut water have garnered significant attention for their richness in healthful flavonoids. However, the dynamics of flavonoid metabolites in coconut water during different developmental stages remain poorly understood. This study employed the metabolomics approach using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) to investigate the changes in flavonoid metabolite profiles in coconut water from two varieties, 'Wenye No.5'(W5) and Hainan local coconut (CK), across six developmental stages. The results showed that a total of 123 flavonoid metabolites including chalcones, dihydroflavonoids, dihydroflavonols, flavonoids, flavonols, flavonoid carboglycosides, and flavanols were identified in the coconut water as compared to the control. The total flavonoid content in both types of coconut water exhibited a decreasing trend with developmental progression, but the total flavonoid content in CK was significantly higher than that in W5. The number of flavonoid metabolites that differed significantly between the W5 and CK groups at different developmental stages were 74, 74, 60, 92, 40 and 54, respectively. KEGG pathway analysis revealed 38 differential metabolites involved in key pathways for flavonoid biosynthesis and secondary metabolite biosynthesis. This study provides new insights into the dynamics of flavonoid metabolites in coconut water and highlights the potential for selecting and breeding high-quality coconuts with enhanced flavonoid content. The findings have implications for the development of coconut-based products with improved nutritional and functional properties.

    Keywords: Coconut water, Flavonoid metabolites, developmental dynamics, Liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry, Metabolomics

    Received: 22 Jul 2024; Accepted: 10 Sep 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Hou, John Martin, Song, Wang, Cao, Li and Sun. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Wenrao Li, School of Life Sciences, Henan University, Kaifeng, 475004, Henan Province, China
    Chengxu Sun, Coconut Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences, Wenchang, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.