Metabolomic characterization of wild and cultivated Hericium erinaceus reveals functional component retention relevant to food processing and quality control

Hericium erinaceus is an edible and medicinal fungus increasingly used in functional foods, but differences in chemical composition between wild and cultivated samples remain a challenge to consistent quality. This study used a UPLC-Triple-TOF-MS/MS full-scan method (m/z 100 to 1,000) to profile metabolites in H. erinaceus across wild and cultivated samples, featuring both first and second flushes. Metabolite similarities among the three sample types were analyzed using GNPS driven by molecular networking. A library search identified 25 metabolites, including amino acids, nucleosides, sugar-derived metabolites, phospholipids, fatty acids, terpenoids and gallotannins. One additional metabolite, an N-glycan, was annotated using DEREPLICATOR+. We thus established an HTG-NAP database containing 131 literature-reported H. erinaceus metabolites, providing a standardized reference for GNPS NAP-based network annotation. This experiment putatively identified 29 previously reported compounds and analyzed fragments of Hericenone D using MS2LDA. Spec2Vec analysis was then used to speculate on an unknown peak (m/z 330.363), leading to the identification or deduction of 56 compounds. A standard confirmation experiment was conducted to verify the reliability of GNPS reference spectra against experimental MS/MS spectra using reference standards of D-mannose and D-mannitol. Quantitative evaluation of the retention rate of the feature metabolites proved the similarity in functional components between wild and cultivated samples. The study thus demonstrated that cultivated H. erinaceus products are comparable to those made from wild counterparts in terms of nutritional and functional value, retaining key metabolites during cultivation, providing a potential basis for quality control, raw material selection, and product authentication in functional food manufacturing.