ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Plant Sci.
Sec. Plant Metabolism and Chemodiversity
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpls.2025.1624083
This article is part of the Research TopicMechanisms of Medicinal Plants in Treating Diseases Based on Bioinformatics AnalysisView all articles
Source-Specific Metabolic Profiles and Gene Expression in Areca Nut Cultivars from Hainan (China)
Provisionally accepted
Yuanyuan Sun1,2
Jian Feng2
Haojie Liang1,2Shunan Zhang1,2Yuxia Wu3
Anzhen Xie2Lin Zeng2
Yangyang Liu1,2*- 1Institute of Medicinal Plant Development, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China
- 2Hainan Branch of the Institute of Medicinal Plant Development, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Haikou, China
- 3Hainan General Hospital, Hainan Affiliated Hospital of Hainan Medical University, Haikou, China
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Areca catechu L. are versatile plants whose fruits and seeds have great economic value. Although widely cultivated in Hainan Province, China, including native (HN) and introduced varieties from Taiwan (TW), Thailand (TG), and Vietnam (YN), the metabolic and regulatory differences among these varieties remain unclear. This study employed multi-omics techniques to analyze the metabolic profiles of phenylpropanoids, flavonoids, and alkaloids, along with their transcriptomic metabolic regulation, in the seeds of four areca nut germplasms. The research revealed significant metabolic differences among the seed varieties: the HN variety exhibited 175 differential metabolites, predominantly lignans, coumarins, and unsaturated fatty acids; the TW variety showed 270 differential metabolites with notably higher levels of flavonoids; the YN variety displayed 131 differential metabolites, characterized by intermediate overall metabolite levels but remarkably high glycerophospholipid content; and the TG variety contained 226 differential metabolites with relatively lower overall metabolite abundance. Furthermore, the key enzymes CCR and CHS were identified as core regulatory factors responsible for the differential accumulation of lignins, coumarins, and flavonoids observed between the HN and TW varieties. Overall, this study uncovers source-specific metabolic and regulatory distinctions in several AN varieties and provides further insights for enhancing AN utilization and supporting economic resilience for growers by identifying metabolites and biosynthetic pathways relevant to medicinal value and industrial processing.
Keywords: Areca nut, Different sources, Widely targeted metabolomics technology, Transcriptome, Alkaloids, Flavonoids
Received: 07 May 2025; Accepted: 18 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Sun, Feng, Liang, Zhang, Wu, Xie, Zeng and Liu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Yangyang Liu, Institute of Medicinal Plant Development, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China
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