Multi-Targeted Metabolic Profiling of Carotenoids, Phenolic Compounds and Primary Metabolites in Goji ( spp.) Berry and Tomato () Reveals Inter and Intra Genus Biomarkers.

Metabolic profile is a key component of fruit quality, which is a challenge to study due to great compound diversity, especially in species with high nutritional value. This study presents optimized analytical methods for metabolic profiling in the fruits of three species: , and . It includes the most important chemical classes involved in nutrition and taste, i.e., carotenoids, phenolic compounds and primary compounds. Emphasis has been placed on the systematic achievement of good extraction yields, sample stability, and high response linearity using common LC-ESI-TQ-MS and GC-EI-MS apparatuses. A set of 13 carotenoids, 46 phenolic compounds and 67 primary compounds were profiled in fruit samples. Chemometrics revealed metabolic markers discriminating and fruits but also and fruits and the effect of the crop environment. Typical tomato markers were found to be lycopene, carotene, glutamate and GABA, while lycibarbarphenylpropanoids and zeaxanthin esters characterized goji ( spp.) fruits. Among the compounds discriminating the species, reported here for the first time to our knowledge, chlorogenic acids, asparagine and quinic acid were more abundant in , whereas accumulated more lycibarbarphenylpropanoids A-B, coumaric acid, fructose and glucose.