ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Plant Sci.
Sec. Plant Metabolism and Chemodiversity
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpls.2025.1642949
Integrative transcriptomics and metabolomics reveal the biosynthesis of flavonoid metabolites in Tilia miqueliana Maxim. leaves
Provisionally accepted
- 1Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing, China
- 2Nanjing Forestry University College of Forestry, Nanjing, China
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
Tilia miqueliana Maxim., native to East China, has medicinal properties, includ ing antidepressant, anxiolytic, anticancer, and cold-relieving effects. Its active c ompounds mainly include flavonoids, phenolic acids, coumarins, and terpenes. This study used UPLC-ESI-MS/MS to analyze the metabolites of Tilia miquelia na Maxim. leaves at four developmental stages, identifying 1,971 metabolites. Flavonoids, amino acids, and phenolic acids made up nearly half of the total metabolites. Significant differences in differentially accumulated metabolites (D AMs) and differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were observed across stages. Active metabolites such as quercetin, isorhamnetin, and kaempferol were quanti fied. Correlation analysis revealed that PAL and C4H enzymes promote the sy nthesis of these metabolites, suggesting shared biosynthetic pathways. DEGs rel ated to flavonoid biosynthesis were identified, and gene co-expression analysis linked gene expression to metabolite accumulation. This study provides insights into the metabolic variations in Tilia miqueliana Maxim. leaves and supports t he development of its pharmacologically active compounds. Keywords Tilia miqueliana Maxim. leaf•Secondary metabolites•Flavonoids•Conjo Tilia miqueliana Maxim.
Keywords: Tilia miqueliana Maxim. leaf, secondary metabolites, Flavonoids, Conjoint Analysis, transcriptomics and metabolomics
Received: 07 Jun 2025; Accepted: 15 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Zhou and Shen. 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: Yong bao Shen, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing, China
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.