Comparative analysis of gender-specific metabolomic discriminators in two species of seabuckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides L. and Hippophae salicifolia D.Don) from different regions of Indian Himalayas

A comprehensive GC–MS based metabolome analysis was conducted by analyzing the differential solvent derivatized extracts of leaves of male and female seabuckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides L. and H. salicifolia D.Don) plants collected from three diverse regions of the Indian Himalayas, namely Himachal Pradesh, Union Territory of Ladakh, and Uttarakhand. The quantified peak intensity of metabolites was matched with the standard compounds present in the different libraries of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, including NIST14, NIST14s, and Wiley8. Multivariate analysis tools, PLS-DA and VIP plots, provided a comparative analysis of gender-based metabolomic diversity prevailing in the different geographical regions. The GC–MS profiling and PLS-DA supervised approach revealed 58 metabolites, of which 25 metabolites were considered as significant at Variable Importance Projection (VIP > 1, p < 0.05). The PLS-DA-VIP plot revealed marked expression of 21 crucial metabolites in H. rhamnoides female collections from Himachal Pradesh comparative to only two metabolites in male collections. Nineteen metabolites were highly expressed in H. rhamnoides female samples from Union Territory of Ladakh comparative to only seven metabolites highly expressed in the male collections. Similarly, 20 metabolites were over-expressed in H. salicifolia female collections from Uttarakhand regions comparative to four metabolites in the male collection. An overall higher expression of metabolites was observed in the female collections compared to male collections representing different regions. The comprehensive comparative metabolome analysis allowed the identification of gender-specific and region-specific metabolomic discriminators. The findings of the present study provide valuable information for the identification of crucial metabolites in male and female collections of seabuckthorn, useful for their industrial applications.