Widely targeted metabolomics study of flower buds of Styphnolobium japonicum from different producing areas

The flower buds of Styphnolobium japonicum (FBSJ), a medicinal and food plant, exhibit broad application prospects and diverse therapeutic effects, including cooling the blood, stopping bleeding, lowering blood sugar, and exerting antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities. To provide a reference for the identification, resource development, and utilization, a widely targeted metabolomics study was conducted on FBSJ samples from four production regions in China: Shandong (SJsd), Anhui (SJah), Hebei (SJhb), and Henan (SJhn). In this research, the metabolomic analysis provided the possibility of identifying metabolites to differentiate plants from different origin to broaden a limited metabolome coverage and unclear origin-metabolite-efficacy correlations. A UPLC-MS/MS-based metabolomics analysis was selected to investigate the metabolites of FBSJ from different geographic origins, utilizing the MWDB database and the multi-reaction monitoring mode of triple-quadrupole mass spectrometry (TQMS). A total of 1,559 metabolites were identified, of which 294 were annotated as key active ingredients in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), and 193 as active pharmaceutical components against 11 diseases, including cancer and diabetes. Among the 708 differential metabolites identified across the four different origin groups, 176 were annotated by KEGG and distributed across 87 metabolic pathways. The most significantly altered metabolic pathway was isoflavonoid biosynthesis (p < 0.01), where SJsd samples exhibited an upregulation trend in key differential metabolites compared to the other groups. Among the 193 disease-active metabolites, 13 (e.g., 3'-Methoxydaidzein, Maackiain) were at least twofold more abundant in SJsd compared to any other origin, highlighting their critical role in explaining SJsd's superior pharmacological potential. This study provides a comprehensive molecular-level analysis of FBSJ metabolites, offering useful insights into its pharmacological analysis across different origins. These findings enhance our understanding of FBSJ metabolites annotated as anti-disease-related components in public databases and offer a valuable reference for investigating their potential in human health applications and the development of novel functional foods.