Abstract:In this experiment, 20 kinds of maca with different phenotypes and producing areas were analyzed by Ultra high performance liquid chromatography tandem quadrupole electrostatic field orbital trap high resolution mass spectrometry (Dionex Ultimate 3000-Q Exactive Orbitrap). The original data were processed by Compound Discoverer software and then processed by SIMACA 14.1 to find the potential marker metabolites, which were analyzed by secondary mass spectrometry and qualitatively determined by relevant literature and databases (HMDB or NIST). The results of multivariate statistical analysis showed that maca from different origins were grouped successfully by OPLS-DA. Maca from Lijiang and Shangri-la areas were successfully grouped in PLS-DA and OPLS-DA. Purple, yellow and black Maca were grouped successfully in PLS-DA and OPLS-DA. Cluster analysis showed that yellow, black and purple Maca could be divided into three categories, and the active components of the three phenotypes were different. This was consistent with the results of OPLS-DA. The marker metabolites of Maca from different phenotypes were identified by multivariate statistical analysis, which were characterized according to their MS2 information. The results showed that high resolution mass spectrometry combined with metabonomics could be used to identify different phenotypes and origin of Maca. However, due to the lack of databases and literatures on the qualitative characterization of metabolites in Maca, only two metabolites, N-Benzyl-15Z-tetracosenamide and 3-methoxy-phenylacetic acid, were identified in this study.
