NMR metabolomics of berry quality in sea buckthorn (Hippophae L.)

Sea buckthorn (Hippophae L.) is a woody perennial shrub or small tree whose berries are rich in bioactive compounds with powerful nutritional and medicinal properties. Untargeted ¹H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and principal component analysis (PCA) were used to characterize the metabolic profile of berry quality. There was strong separation in the NMR signal intensity of bioactive compounds between pulp and seeds, such as amino acids [gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), aspartate, glutamate, theanine, and proline], organic acids (citrate, succinate, malate, acetate, quinate, and heriguard), and carbohydrates (sucrose, fructose, glucose, and melibiose). Sea buckthorn cultivars could be clearly separated into two groups using principal component analysis (PCA) based on NMR spectroscopy of bioactive compounds in the pulp and seeds. Several metabolic compounds such as sugar, organic acids, and amino acids could serve as biomarkers for prediction of berry quality and for classification of germplasm collections. This dataset provides potential information concerning the mechanisms of berry quality formation and contributes to increasing the breeding efficiency of sea buckthorn quality improvement.