ABSTRACT
Objective::To establish differential metabolites between different varieties of Angelica sinensis, and provide reference for breeding, introduction, regional cultivation and ecological cultivation of new varieties of A. sinensis. Method::Comprehensive non-target metabonomics analysis was conducted for five new varieties of A. sinensis collected at the same time from the same origin: Mingui No. 1 (MG1), Mingui No. 2 (MG2), Mingui No. 4 (MG4), Mingui No. 5 (MG5), and Mingui No. 6 (MG6). The 50% methanol extract of each variety was taken, and then the differential metabolites among varieties were found by using ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole-time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UPLC-Q-TOF-MS), software Progenesis QI, principal component analysis (PCA), partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA), and non-targeted metabonomics analysis. Differential metabolites were identified based on precise molecular weight, secondary fragments, KEGG database, HMDE database and related literature information. Result::The results of UPLC-Q-TOF-MS and multivariate statistical analysis showed that there were significant differences in the metabolites of five Angelica varieties. As compared with MG1, the contents of chlorogenic acid, ferulic acid, tryptophan and ferulic aldehyde were significantly lower in MG2, MG4, MG5 and MG6, while the contents of ligustilide, coumarin, bovine keratin, palmitin, protocatechualdehyde and linolenic acid were significantly higher (P<0.05). The results of multivariate statistical analysis showed that the metabolites of MG2 and MG5 were similar with those of MG6, but were significantly different from those of MG4.In addition, 38 distinct metabolites were identified, involving 7 potential targeted metabolic pathways. Different varieties of A. sinensis could regulate the synthesis of their metabolites through phenylpropanoid biosynthesis and sesquiterpene-like compounds metabolism, lipid metabolism, amino acid metabolism, carbohydrate metabolism, nucleotide metabolism, carotenoids, linolenic acid, linoleic acid and some other metabolic pathways. Conclusion::UPLC-Q-TOF-MS and Progenesis QI metabonomics techniques were used to compare the chemical constituents of different varieties of A. sinensis from the overall level. The differences and their regularities were found, which could provide reference for quality control, variety sorting, identification, breeding and ecological planting of A. sinensis.