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Metabolite profiling of the undifferentiated cultured cells and differentiated leaf tissues of Centella asiatica

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Abstract

Centella asiatica, a perennial herb renowned for its wide range of nutraceuticals properties, is a valuable source of plant secondary metabolites with various pharmacological activities. Novel approaches to develop alternatives for the production and enrichment of these secondary metabolites are receiving much attention, for example the biotechnological manipulation of undifferentiated cells cultures as a potential source of natural products. This study investigated the differences of the metabolite profiles between undifferentiated cells and differentiated leaf tissues of C. asiatica in comparison to a commercially available herbal medicine supplement. The secondary metabolites were extracted using methanol and analysed on an UHPLC-QTOF-MS platform. Metabolites were further identified and characterised based on their MS-fragmentation patterns and through comparison with authentic standards where available. Results revealed the similarities and dissimilarities and showed inter- and intra- relationships amid the different samples. A total of 18 metabolites including a number of hydroxycinnamic acid derivatives, flavonoids as well as the four centelloids (pentacyclic triterpenoids) were annotated in different sample groups across the different extracts. The results obtained verified that the different biological systems of C. asiatica are chemo-diverse, possibly related to regional and processing differences, and in the case of cells, to the level of cellular differentiation.

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Abbreviations

BPI:

Base peak intensity

CGAs:

Chlorogenic acids

ESI:

Electrospray ionisation

HCAs:

Hydroxycinnamates

HDMS QTOF:

High-definition quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometer

MS:

Murashige and Skoog medium

m/z :

Mass-to-charge ratio

Rt:

Retention time

UPHLC:

Ultra-high performance liquid chromatography

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the South African National Research Foundation (grant number 95818 to ID) for financial support and the University of Johannesburg for a postgraduate research fellowship to EN.

Author contributions

IAD designed the study, ENN and PAS performed the experiments, ENN, NEM and IAD analysed the data, ENN and IAD wrote the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biochemistry, University of Johannesburg, Kingsway, Auckland Park, 2006, South Africa

    Efficient N. Ncube, Paul A. Steenkamp, Ntakadzeni E. Madala & Ian A. Dubery

  2. CSIR-Biosiences, Meiring Naude road, Pretoria, 0001, South Africa

    Paul A. Steenkamp

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  1. Efficient N. Ncube
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  2. Paul A. Steenkamp
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  3. Ntakadzeni E. Madala
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Correspondence to Ian A. Dubery.

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The authors (EN, PS, NM and ID) declare no conflict of interest.

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11240_2017_1189_MOESM1_ESM.pdf

Fig. S1. Representative UHPLC-MS base peak intensity (BPI) chromatograms obtained from ESI positive mode analysis of methanolic extracts of the C. asiatica leaf tissue (A), cells (B) and Gotu Kola capsules (C). Clear differences and presence/ absence of some peak intensities can be seen, indicating chemo-diversity of the different samples. Supplementary material 1 (PDF 135 KB)

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Ncube, E.N., Steenkamp, P.A., Madala, N.E. et al. Metabolite profiling of the undifferentiated cultured cells and differentiated leaf tissues of Centella asiatica . Plant Cell Tiss Organ Cult 129, 431–443 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11240-017-1189-4

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