Untargeted GC-TOFMS Analysis Reveals Metabolomic Changes in <i>Salvia miltiorrhiza</i> Bunge Leaf and Root in Response to Long-Term Drought Stress

• Main Authors: Jin Zhang, Yuekai Su, Jingyu Li, Zhenli Ren, Guoqing Tian, Jianhua Wang
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2021-07-01
• Series: Horticulturae
• Subjects: <i>Salvia miltiorrhiza</i> Bunge; metabolic profiling; drought stress; bioactive constituents; gas chromatography time-of-flight mass spectrometry
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2311-7524/7/7/175

<i>Salvia miltiorrhiza</i> Bunge (Danshen) is an important traditional Chinese medicine herb. This study aimed to investigate the drought-responsive metabolic profiling in <i>S. miltiorrhiza</i> using gas chromatography time-of-flight mass spectrometry (GC-TOFMS) analysis. Fifty day-old <i>S. miltiorrhiza</i> seedlings were treated with two (moderate drought, MD) and four weeks (high drought, HD) of withholding water. The <i>S. miltiorrhiza</i> leaf and root samples were prepared for the GC-TOFMS analysis. Differential metabolites with substantial changes in content in <i>S. miltiorrhiza</i> leaf and root were identified using multivariate and univariate statistics. A total of 178 and 157 annotated metabolites were detected in <i>S. miltiorrhiza</i> leaf and root, respectively. Multivariate analysis showed that significantly discriminant metabolites in <i>S. miltiorrhiza</i> leaf by drought were associated with “galactose metabolism” and “citrate cycle”. In addition, the significantly discriminant metabolites in <i>S. miltiorrhiza</i> root were associated with “starch and sucrose metabolism”. Univariate statistics showed that the content of succinic acid, <span style="font-variant: small-caps;">d</span>-glucose, and oxoglutaric acid in <i>S. miltiorrhiza</i> leaf was increased by drought (fold change, FC > 1.5). Allose, <span style="font-variant: small-caps;">d</span>-xylose, melibiose, mannose, sorbitol, quinic acid, sinigrin, and taurine in <i>S. miltiorrhiza</i> root were decreased by drought (FC < 0.67). There were different metabolic profiles between <i>S. miltiorrhiza</i> leaf and root. However, the influence of drought stress on the pharmacological value and accumulation of bioactive constituents in <i>S. miltiorrhiza</i> should be further investigated.