Differentiation of Ficus deltoidea varieties and chemical marker determination by UHPLC-HRMS metabolomics for establishing quality control criteria of this medicinal herb

ABSTRACT: Ficus deltoidea Jack (Moraceae) is a plant used in Malaysia for various conditions including as a supplement in diabetes management. Morphology distinction of the 7 varieties (var. angustifolia, var. bilobata, var. deltoidea, var. intermedia, var. kunstleri, var. motleyana and var. trengganuensis) is challenging due to the extreme leaf heterophylly and unclear varietal boundaries, making it difficult for authentication and quality control of F. deltoidea products. In this study, we applied untargeted UHPLC-HRMS metabolomics and a genetic approach to the authentication of 7 F. deltoidea varieties collected from 6 locations throughout Peninsular Malaysia. The PCA and HCA analysis showed 3 main chemotypes based on the differentiation in the main flavonoids content; var. terengganuensis and var. intermedia (chemotypes-a), var. angustifolia (chemotype-b) and var. bilobata, var. deltoidea, var. kunstleri and var. motleyana (chemotype-c). Using these groupings, the supervised PLS-DA analysis identified 15 glycosylated flavones as markers together with 1 furanocoumarin. These markers were always consistent for the respective varieties, regardless of the geographical origin and if the plants were of wild or cultivated. Additionally, the chemotaxonomy differentiation was also validated by DNA sequencing. In particular, var. bilobata accession which showed divergent morphology was also differentiated by the chemical fingerprints and genotype. Our results suggest that the chemotype differentiation based on the flavonoids fingerprints along with the proposed markers provide a complementary tool to morphology and genetic analyses for the quality control of raw materials and products from F. deltoidea varieties.

INSTRUMENT(S): Liquid Chromatography MS - Negative (LC-MS (Negative))

SUBMITTER: Adlin Afzan 

PROVIDER: MTBLS756 | MetaboLights | 2019-01-18

REPOSITORIES: MetaboLights