ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Plant Sci.
Sec. Plant Metabolism and Chemodiversity
This article is part of the Research TopicMolecular Mechanisms and Multi-Omics Approaches in Plant Secondary Metabolism: Regulation, Stress Responses, and Biotechnological ApplicationsView all 15 articles
Comparative Metabolomics Identifies Enhanced Ursane-type Triterpenoids and Antioxidant Capacity in Actinidia arguta 'Danyang' Kiwifruit
Provisionally accepted
Mingzheng Duan1
Jieyu Chang1Can Liang1Genxin Yang1Yuanqiao Li1Kaifeng Li1
Xiande Duan1Lei Liu1Shunqiang Yang1
Muhammad Junaid Rao2,3*- 1Zhaotong University, Zhaotong, China
- 2School of Forestry and Biotechnology, Zhejiang Agriculture & Forestry University, Hangzhou, China
- 3Zhejiang A and F University, Hangzhou, China
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Chemical diversity is crucial for plant ecological adaptation and nutritional value. In kiwifruit, sec-ondary metabolites such as terpenoids influence key traits such as flavor and nutraceutical properties, however, their diversity across different species and cultivars remains poorly characterized. This study employed UPLC-MS/MS-based metabolomics to profile terpenoids in five varieties representing both Actinidia chinensis (cultivars 'Guichang', GC; 'SunGold', SG; and a wild type, WL) and Actinidia arguta (cultivars 'Maolvfeng', LC; 'Danyang', DY). We identified 309 terpenoids, revealing profound diversity. Notably, theThe commercial A. chinensis 'SunGold' (SG) and A. arguta 'Danyang' (DY) exhibited the highest total terpenoid content, while SG uniquely possessed a soluble sugar content 2.4 to 6 times greater than other varieties. Both varieties also showed the strongest antioxidant capacity (455.20 and 438.91 µg TE/g FW, respectively), suggesting their superior nutraceutical potential. Mul-tivariate analysis confirmed distinct terpenoid fingerprints, with DY enriched in ursane-type triterpenes e.g., pomolic acid, 1-oxo-siaresinolic acid, camellisin B, and siegesbeckic acid, while SG was uniquely abundant in seco-iridoids like geniposide (442-fold higher than WL). Within A. chinensis, the culti-vated 'Guichang' (GC) showed a significant suppression of most triterpenoids compared to its wild relative (WL), demonstrating a possible breeding or selection effect. Our findings demonstrate that terpenoid profiles are likely influenced by genetic background, both at the species and cultivar level, providing a metabolic roadmap for the targeted breeding of kiwifruit with optimized health, nutraceu-tical, and sensory properties.
Keywords: Actinidia arguta, Actinidia chinensis, antioxidant capacity, Kiwifruit, Metabolomics, Terpenoid diversity
Received: 20 Dec 2025; Accepted: 29 Jan 2026.
Copyright: © 2026 Duan, Chang, Liang, Yang, Li, Li, Duan, Liu, Yang and Rao. 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: Muhammad Junaid Rao
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