Untargeted Metabolomic Analysis of Differential Metabolite Profiles of Three Gums

In this study, the differences in total phenol content and metabolite profile among arabic gum, karaya gum and peach gum were analyzed. The results showed that there was a significant difference in total phenol content among the three gums. Peach gum had the highest total phenol content (19.93 μmol/g), followed by arabic gum (4.06 μmol/g) and karaya gum (1.36 μmol/g). Metabolomics analysis showed that all these gums were rich in small molecular metabolites, such as amino acids, organic acids, flavonoids, and lipids. However, there were significant differences in the species and abundance of small molecular metabolites among the gums, which may be associated with producer species and flowing method. The contents of flavonoids and total phenols in peach gum were significantly higher than those in arabic Gum and karaya gum. In addition, the contents of amino acids and organic acids in karaya gum and arabic gum were significantly higher than those in peach gum. The content of lipids in karaya gum was significantly higher than that in arabic gum and peach gum. The metabolic pathways of differential metabolites among the different gums mainly included the pathways of flavonoid biosynthesis, isoquinoline alkaloid biosynthesis, amino acid synthesis and metabolism, and linoleic acid metabolism. The results from our present study may provide technical support for gum quality analysis and the discovery of its functional components.