Comparative metabolomics reveals the metabolic variations between two endangered Taxus species (T. fuana and T. yunnanensis) in the Himalayas

BACKGROUND: Plants of the genus Taxus have attracted much attention owing to the natural product taxol, a successful anti-cancer drug. T. fuana and T. yunnanensis are two endangered Taxus species mainly distributed in the Himalayas. In our study, an untargeted metabolomics approach integrated with a targeted UPLC-MS/MS method was applied to examine the metabolic variations between these two Taxus species growing in different environments. RESULTS: The level of taxol in T. yunnanensis is much higher than that in T. fuana, indicating a higher economic value of T. yunnanensis for taxol production. A series of specific metabolites, including precursors, intermediates, competitors of taxol, were identified. All the identified intermediates are predominantly accumulated in T. yunnanensis than T. fuana, giving a reasonable explanation for the higher accumulation of taxol in T. yunnanensis. Taxusin and its analogues are highly accumulated in T. fuana, which may consume limited intermediates and block the metabolic flow towards taxol. The contents of total flavonoids and a majority of tested individual flavonoids are significantly accumulated in T. fuana than T. yunnanensis, indicating a stronger environmental adaptiveness of T. fuana. CONCLUSIONS: Systemic metabolic profiling may provide valuable information for the comprehensive industrial utilization of the germplasm resources of these two endangered Taxus species growing in different environments. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1186/s12870-018-1412-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.