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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Plant Sci.
Sec. Plant Metabolism and Chemodiversity
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpls.2025.1537924
This article is part of the Research Topic Metabolomics in Crop Research – Current and Emerging Methodologies, Volume III View all 13 articles
Microstructure Observation and Flavor Substances Excavation of Yunyan 87 Tobacco Leaves with Different Oil Contents
Provisionally accepted
Xianfeng Hu 1*
Wei Xu 2 Yubo Zhang 1 Shouhui Pan 2,3 Yanlan Xie 1 Rui Liao 2 Shenggang Yang 2 Youxiang Wu 2,3 Daomao Deng 3- 1 Anshun University, Anshun, China
- 2 China Tobacco Guizhou Industrial Co Ltd, guiyang, China
- 3 Guizhou Province Tobacco Company Anshun Company, Anshun, China
The oil content of tobacco leaves is intimately associated with their aromatic characteristics. This study aims to explore the microstructure and distinctive flavor substances of Yunyan 87 high-oilcontent tobacco leaves. The microstructure and characteristic flavor substances of Yunyan 87 tobacco leaves with different oil contents were analyzed using scanning electron microscope (SEM) and comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography coupled with time-of-flight mass spectrometry (GC×GC-TOF MS). The results indicate that the surface of high-oil tobacco leaves was characterized by a high density of glandular hairs, primarily composed of short-stalked glandular hairs featuring enlarged glandular heads. A total of 1551 flavor substances were detected in high-oil tobacco leaves, compared to 1500 metabolites were identified in low-oil tobacco leaves. Among these flavor substances, eight exhibited up-regulated, while three were down-regulated. Notably, the oil-related substances hexadecanoic acid methyl ester and the aroma-related substances nonanoic acid methyl ester and pseudoionone were found to be significantly more abundant in high-oil tobacco leaves compared to their low-oil counterparts. Consequently, hexadecanoic acid methyl ester may serve as a reliable indicator for evaluating the oil content in tobacco leaves, while nonanoic acid methyl ester and pseudoionone could play crucial roles as flavor substances influencing the aroma of tobacco leaves. These findings provide a theoretical foundation for future research on the regulatory mechanisms underlying the synthesis of aroma-producing flavor substances in tobacco leaves.
Keywords: Flavor substances, Hexadecanoic acid methyl ester, nonanoic acid methyl ester, Pseudoionone, Tobacco oil content
Received: 02 Dec 2024; Accepted: 11 Feb 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Hu, Xu, Zhang, Pan, Xie, Liao, Yang, Wu and Deng. 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:
Xianfeng Hu, Anshun University, Anshun, China
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