Metabolomics-based comparative analysis of the effects of host and environment on Viscum coloratum metabolites and antioxidative activities

Viscum coloratum (Kom.) Nakai is a well-known medicinal hemiparasite widely distributed in Asia. The synthesis and accumulation of its metabolites are affected by both environmental factors and the host plants, while the latter of which is usually overlooked. The purpose of this study was to comprehensively evaluate the effects of host and habitat on the metabolites in V. coloratum through multiple chemical and biological approaches. The metabolite profile of V. coloratum harvested from three different host plants in two habitats were determined by multiple chemical methods including high-performance liquid chromatography-ultraviolet (HPLC-UV), gas chromatography-flame ionization detector (GC-FID) and ultra-performance liquid chromatography quadrupole time of flight mass spectrometry (UPLC-QTOF/ MS). The differences in antioxidant efficacy of V. coloratum were determined based on multiple in vitro models. The multivariate statistical analysis and data fusion strategy were applied to analyze the differences in metabolite profile and antioxidant activity of V. coloratum. Results indicated that the metabolite profile obtained by various chemical approaches was simultaneously affected by host and environment factors, and the environment plays a key role. Meanwhile, three main differential metabolites between two environment groups were identified. The results of antioxidant assay indicated that the environment has greater effects on the biological activity of V. coloratum than the host. Therefore, we conclude that the integration of various chemical and biological approaches combined with multivariate statistical and data fusion analysis, which can determine the influences of host plant and habitat on the metabolites, is a powerful strategy to control the quality of semi-parasitic herbal medicine.(c) 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of Xi'an Jiaotong University. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

Automated summary

This study comprehensively evaluated the effects of host and habitat on the metabolites in Viscum coloratum through multiple chemical and biological approaches. The results showed that the metabolite profile was influenced by both host and environment factors, with the environment playing a key role. The study also identified differential metabolites and found that the environment had greater effects on the biological activity of V. coloratum than the host. The integration of various approaches and analysis strategies is a powerful strategy for controlling the quality of semi-parasitic herbal medicine.