Untargeted Metabolomics and Soil Community Metagenomics\nAnalyses Combined with Machine Learning Evaluation Uncover Geographic\nDifferences in Ginseng from Different Locations

Panax ginseng C.A. Meyer, known\nas the “King of Herbs,” has been used as a nutritional\nsupplement for both food and medicine with the functions of relieving\nfatigue and improving immunity for thousands of years in China. In\nagricultural planting, soil environments of different geographical\norigins lead to obvious differences in the quality of ginseng, but\nthe potential mechanism of the differences remains unclear. In this\nstudy, 20 key differential metabolites, including ginsenoside Rb1,\nglucose 6-phosphate, etc., were found in ginseng from 10 locations\nin China using an ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole\ntime-of-flight mass spectrometry (UHPLC-QTOF-MS)-untargeted metabolomics\napproach. The soil properties were analyzed and combined with metagenomics\ntechnology to explore the possible relationships among microbial elements\nin planting soil. Through Spearman correlation analysis, it was found\nthat the top 10 microbial colonies with the highest abundance in the\nsoil were significantly correlated with key metabolites. In addition,\nthe relationship model established by the random forest algorithm\nand the quantitative relationship between soil microbial abundance\nand ginseng metabolites were successfully predicted. The XGboost model\nwas used to determine 20(R)-ginseng Rg2 and 2′(R)-ginseng Rg3\nas feature labeled metabolites, and the optimal ginseng production\narea was discovered. These results prove that the accumulation of\nmetabolites in ginseng was influenced by microorganisms in the planting\nsoil, which led to geographical differences in ginseng quality.