ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Plant Sci.
Sec. Plant Metabolism and Chemodiversity
This article is part of the Research TopicBiosynthesis, Regulation, and Ecological Roles of Plant Volatile Organic CompoundsView all 3 articles
Environmental Influences on the Accumulation of Medici nal Active Components and Metabolites of Plantago asiati ca L. Seeds from Different Cultivation Sites
Provisionally accepted
- Jiangxi University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Nanchang, China
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Introduction:Soil nutrients and climate critically regulate the accumulation of bioactive components in Plantago asiatica L. seeds, but their regulatory mechanisms are still unclear. Thus, this study aims to explore the regulatory roles of these factors in Plantago asiatica L. seeds. Method :A combination of multiple techniques including High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC), Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS), and Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (LC-MS) was employed to study the regulatory effects of soil nutrients and climate on the growth of Plantago asiatica L. seeds from Jiangxi and Sichuan provinces. Result:Notably, the key anti-inflammatory components, geniposidic acid and acteoside, were significantly more abundant in seeds from Jiangxi, which supports the recognition that Jiangxi-sourced Plantago asiatica L. seeds have "superior medicinal quality". Specifically, the high temperature, abundant precipitation, and soil rich in available phosphorus (P), iron (Fe), and manganese (Mn) in Jiangxi may upregulate lipid metabolism through the linoleic acid pathway. In contrast, the mild climate, significant seasonal variation in precipitation, and soil characterized by high available boron (B), exchangeable magnesium (Mg), and slight alkalinity in Sichuan may upregulate terpenoids metabolism through the retinoid metabolism and transport pathway, as well as the accumulation of specific volatiles including (-)-camphene and (Z)-carveol. Conclusion :Collectively, these soil and climate factors synergistically shape the differences in metabolomic profiles and medicinal quality of Plantago asiatica L. seeds. This study provides a theoretical basis for screening high-quality production areas and formulating standardized cultivation strategies.
Keywords: environmental factors, Lipids, Medicinalplants, Metabolome, Plantago asiatica L. seeds, terpenoids
Received: 26 Dec 2025; Accepted: 30 Jan 2026.
Copyright: © 2026 Peng, Qin, Luo, Qiao, Zhu, Wang, Zhang, Xie and Zhang. 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:
Luxin Xie
Shouwen Zhang
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