Global metabolome profiles of Lonicera caerulea L. and Lonicera caerulea ssp.kamtschatica (Sevast.) Gladkova

Lonicera caerulea, commonly known as honeysuckle, is widespread in the Eurasian continent. Its berries are rich in bioactive compounds. However, limited studies have explored the metabolome composition of the berries of varieties and wild accessions in different subspecies of L. caerulea. Here we studied the metabolomic compositions of four varieties of L. caerulea ssp. caerulea and one variety and five wild accessions of L. caerulea ssp. kamtschatica (Sevast.) Gladkova, by using HPLC-ESI-MS and ESI-MS/MS analyses. We report the identification of 151 compounds in the two L. caerulea subspecies. In total, 88 and 84 compounds were detected in L. caerulea and L. caerulea ssp. kamtschatica, respectively. Twenty-one compounds were common in both subspecies whereas 67 and 63 compounds were specific to each subspecies, respectively. The honeysuckle berries were rich in polyphenols including flavonoids, flavanones, flavanols, flavan-3-ols, and anthocyanins. Metabolome of the berries of L. caerulea had high compound diversity (39 compound classes) compared to L. caerulea ssp. kamtschatica (27 compound classes). Of the detected metabolites, 44 compounds were tentatively newly identified; 37 polyphenols and seven others. Prevalent anthocyanins in the two subspecies were different such that L. caerulea berries had delphinidins, pelargonidins, and peonidins, whereas, L. caerulea ssp. kamtschatica berries had cyanidins, delphinidins, and peonidins. Our results provide new data on the metabolome composition of the honeysuckle berries. These results are important for future exploration of health benefits of honeysuckle berries.