Evaluation of Two Major Rhodiola Species and the Systemic Changing Characteristics of Metabolites of Rhodiola crenulata in Different Altitudes by Chemical Methods Combined with UPLC-QqQ-MS-Based Metabolomics

• Published in: Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) Vol. 25; no. 18; p. 4062
• Main Authors: Dong, Xueda, Guo, Yiwen, Xiong, Chuan, Sun, Liwei
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 05-09-2020; MDPI
• Subjects: Altitude; Amino acids; Antioxidants; Antioxidants - pharmacology; biomarker; Biomarkers - analysis; Biosynthesis; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid - methods; differential metabolites; Discriminant Analysis; Elevation; Flavonoids; Glucosides; Mass Spectrometry; Metabolites; Metabolome; Metabolomics; Metabolomics - methods; Phenolic compounds; Phenols; Phenols - analysis; Phytochemicals; Principal Component Analysis; Rhodiola; Rhodiola - growth & development; Rhodiola - metabolism; Rhodiola crenulata; Rhodiola rosea; species; Tannins; UPLC-QqQ-MS-based metabolomics; Tibet; China; elevation; Rhodiola; differential metabolites; species; UPLC-QqQ-MS-based metabolomics; phytochemicals; biomarker
• ISSN: 1420-3049; 1420-3049
• DOI: 10.3390/molecules25184062

species have a long history of use in traditional medicine in Asian and European countries and have been considered to possess resistance to the challenges presented by extreme altitudes. However, the influence of different
species on quality is unclear, as well as the influence of altitude on phytochemicals. In this study, the phenolic components and antioxidant abilities of two major
species are compared, namely
and
, and the metabolomes of
from two representative elevations of 2907 and 5116 m are analyzed using a UPLC-QqQ-MS-based metabolomics approach. The results show that the phenolic components and antioxidant activities of
are higher than those of
, and that these effects in the two species are positively correlated with elevation. Here, 408 metabolites are identified, of which 178 differential metabolites (128 upregulated versus 50 downregulated) and 19 biomarkers are determined in
. Further analysis of these differential metabolites showed a significant upregulation of flavonoids, featuring glucosides, the enhancement of the phenylpropanoid pathway, and the downregulation of hydrolyzed tannins in
as elevation increased. Besides, the amino acids of differential metabolites were all upregulated as the altitude increased. Our results contribute to further exploring the
species and providing new insights into the
phytochemical response to elevation.