Dynamic metabolic changes during fruit maturation in Jatropha curcas L.

Abstract

To understand how metabolism changes during fruit ripening in Jatropha curcas L., we performed a non-targeted analysis of metabolites in fruit (the pericarp and developing young seeds) from each maturation stage by means of liquid chromatography-Orbitrap-mass spectrometry, which provides m/z data with approximately 2 ppm precision. The chromatographic data were processed using bioinformatics tools. The total number of metabolites detected decreased substantially with fruit maturation. Self-organizing map (SOM) analysis and metabolite annotation of the ions detected suggested that dynamic metabolic changes occur during fruit maturation. All chromatographic data were deposited in databases accessible by the public.