Nontargeted Metabolomic Study on Variation of Phenolics in Different Cranberry Cultivars Using UPLC-IM - HRMS

The metabolomic profiles of American cranberry (Vaccinium macrocarpon) fruits and their variation among 10 diverse cultivars were investigated by ultraperformance liquid chromatography ion-mobility high-resolution mass spectrometry (UPLC-IM - HRMS). Over 80 metabolites, belonging to various phenolic compound groups, were putatively characterized. An HRMS data matrix consisting of 4778 unique ions across the 10 cultivars was built and analyzed by orthogonal projections to latent structures discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA). The 10 cultivars segregated into 4 clusters on the basis of their metabolomic similarities, which largely reflected their genetic backgrounds. Anthocyanins exhibited the most extensive variations among all the cultivars, reflecting the effects of cranberry breeding selection on fruit color. Flavonols, phenolic acid derivatives, and proanthocyanidins also varied among the different cultivars. The nontargeted metabolomic comparison using multivariate analysis proved to be efficient and robust for determining specific metabolite differences among the cultivars.