ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Plant Sci.
Sec. Plant Metabolism and Chemodiversity
Non-targeted metabolomics reveals tissue-specific metabolic profiling and antioxidant - related markers in Mosla chinensis Maxim. cv. Jiangxiangru
Provisionally accepted
- School of Agricultural Sciences, Jiangxi Agricultural University, Nanchag, 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
Mosla chinensis Maxim. cv. Jiangxiangru (McJXR) is an aromatic medicinal plant, but its tissue-specific metabolites and antioxidant capacity lack systematic characterization. This study utilized non-targeted metabolomics to comprehensively characterize the metabolic profiles of the stem, leaf, and flower tissues of McJXR, and to assess their in vitro antioxidant activities. A total of 87 compounds were identified by GC–MS, among which 12, 6, and 8 were uniquely present in the flower, stem, and leaf, respectively. LC–MS/MS detected 21,636 and 21,880 ion features in positive and negative ion modes, respectively, revealing a distinct tissue-specific distribution of metabolites, with 176, 169 and 154 metabolites identified in the flower, stem and leaf, respectively. The OPLS-DA model (positive ion mode: R²X = 0.684, Q² = 0.962) further confirmed the reliability of metabolic profile differences across tissues. The differential metabolites (DMs) were primarily enriched in the ABC transporter pathway and the biosynthesis pathways of plant secondary metabolites. Antioxidant activity followed the order: flower > leaf > stem. Total flavonoid content (TFC, reaching up to 10.82 mg RE/g DW in the flower) and total phenolic content (TPC, peaking at 99.25 mg GAE/g DW in the leaf) exhibited significant positive correlations with antioxidant capacity (r > 0.5, p < 0.05), with TFC showing a stronger correlation (r = 0.9443 with the ABTS assay, p < 0.01). Mantel test results identified octopamine, 4-aminobutyric acid, and xylitol as potential antioxidant-related metabolites. This study elucidated the tissue-specific distribution patterns of McJXR metabolites and the biochemical basis of their antioxidant activity, providing a scientific foundation for the rational selection of medicinal parts and the development of functional constituents.
Keywords: antioxidant, Flavonoid, Mosla chinensis Maxim. cv. Jiangxiangru (McJXR), Phenol, tissue
Received: 05 Nov 2025; Accepted: 28 Jan 2026.
Copyright: © 2026 Wang, Zhang, Wang, Cheng and Yan. 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:
Jianfeng Cheng
WuPing Yan
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.