Investigation of metabolites accumulation in medical plant Gentiana rigescens during different growing stage using LC-MS/MS and FT-IR

BACKGROUND: Gentiana rigescens, an important medicinal plant in China, has been widely cultivated in Yunnan province, China. Previous studies were focused on analysis and determination of the metabolites isolated from this species, the accumulation of these metabolites during growth period are not yet clear. In this study, samples for the experiments were obtained by tissue culture. FT-IR and LC-MS/MS method were performed to distinguish the variation on the major metabolites in G. rigescens during growing stage when combined with chemometrics. RESULTS: Methodology validations were all within the required limits. The metabolites were visually different in tissue culture samples and mature plants. The diversity of metabolites increased proportionally with plant growth. The quantitative analysis showed the content of gentiopicroside was significantly vary during different growing stage. The highest content of gentiopicroside (122.93 ± 7.01 mg/g) was detected in leaf of regenerated plantlet, whereas its content in root significantly increased along with underground parts growth. Moreover, flavonoids mainly distributed in aerial parts showed potential competitive relationship during plant growth. CONCLUSION: The distribution and accumulation of metabolites are associated with different parts and plant growth, which provide potential evidences for the rational application and exploitation of G. rigescens. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s40529-015-0094-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.