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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Plant Sci.
Sec. Plant Metabolism and Chemodiversity
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpls.2025.1478061
This article is part of the Research Topic In-Depth Interpretation of Critical Genomic Information Related to the Biosynthesis of Key Specialized (Secondary) Metabolism in Medicinal Plants View all 9 articles
Exploring the Metabolic and Transcriptomic Profiles of Tetrastigma hemsleyanum for Tissue-Specific Compound Accumulation
Provisionally accepted- School of Life Science and Medicine, Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, Hangzhou, China
Tetrastigma hemsleyanum Diels et Gilg exhibits various pharmacological effects, including antiinflammatory, anti-tumor, anti-hepatocellular carcinoma, and antipyretic activities. To explore the medicinal components from other parts of the plant and to fully develop and utilize T. hemsleyanum, this study combined metabolomics and transcriptomics to investigate the mechanisms underlying the differential accumulation of metabolites in various parts of T. hemsleyanum. In this study, using LC-MS/MS technology in positive ion mode, we identified 65 metabolites in the tuberous roots, 203 metabolites in the fibrous roots, and 235 metabolites in the leaves. Flavonoids, alkaloids, terpenoids, glycosides, ketones, and amino acids and their derivatives were the main compounds identified in T. hemsleyanum. Flavonoids, glycosides, alkaloids, and terpenoids accumulated strongly in the tuberous roots, while flavonoid alcohols, glycosides, alkaloids, and terpenoids were strongly accumulated in the leaves and fibrous roots. Furthermore, the phenylpropanoid biosynthesis pathway and isoflavonoid biosynthesis play a major role in the pharmacological effects of T. hemsleyanum. The glucosinolate pathway and ABC transporters also positively influence tissue-specific metabolic accumulation. These results elucidate the molecular mechanisms behind the differential accumulation of metabolites in different parts of T. hemsleyanum, providing important insights into the spatial distribution of its bioactive components and their biosynthetic pathways.
Keywords: UPLC-Q-TOF-MS E, RNA-Seq, Tetrastigma hemsleyanum, medicinal plant, Different parts, Accumulation
Received: 09 Aug 2024; Accepted: 06 Mar 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Zhang, Peng, Li, Yang and Liang. 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:
Xiaodan Zhang, School of Life Science and Medicine, Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, Hangzhou, China
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