Variation in Metabolic Characteristics of Chrysanthemum indicum from Different Habitats: Implications for cultivation and breeding
Abstract Chrysanthemi Indici Flos (CIF), the capitulum of Chrysanthemum indicum, is widely used as Chinese medicine, spice, and tea in many areas, its extracts are also frequently used in daily chemical products and cosmetics. Although CIF-related products are becoming more abundant because of its excellent biological activity, its metabolic characteristics and the accumulation of metabolites are still unclear. A total of 802 metabolites were identified in CIF by widely targeted metabolomics, and significant differences were found in the accumulation of metabolites of CIF from different habitats. Particularly, the differences in metabolite accumulation in CIF were significantly correlated with the geographical distribution in mountainous areas, but not with climate. Through multivariate statistical analysis, the seven samples from different habitats could be divided into four categories, and the significantly changed metabolites between different categories were mainly concentrated in the flavonoid synthesis pathway. Judging from the metabolic level, it was supported to separate the Ch. nankingense (Juhuanao) into a single species. In addition, the corresponding candidate biomarkers were screened in this study to identify the origin of CIF and distinguish the Juhuanao. It can be inferred that widely targeted metabolomics has great application potential in authenticity identification, origin tracing and quality evaluation of CIF. There were abundant metabolic differences among different populations of Ch. indicum, which provided abundant materials for the selection and breeding of fine varieties.