Untargeted metabolomics of strawberry (Fragaria x ananassa ‘Camarosa’) fruit from plants grown under osmotic stress conditions

Abstract BACKGROUND Plants activate defense mechanisms to cope with adverse environmental conditions, leading to the accumulation and / or depletion of general and specialized metabolites. In this study, a multiplatform untargeted metabolomics strategy was employed to evaluate metabolic changes in strawberry fruit of cv. Camarosa grown under osmotic stress conditions. Liquid chromatography‐mass spectrometry (LC‐MS/MS) and gas chromatography‐mass spectrometry (GC‐MS) data from strawberries grown under two water‐deficit conditions, irrigated at 95% crop evapotranspiration (ETc) and 85% ETc, and one excess salt condition with a 80 mmol L −1 NaCl solution, were analyzed to determine treatment effects on fruit metabolism. RESULTS Multivariate principal component analysis, orthogonal projections to latent structures – discriminant analysis (OPLS‐DA), and univariate statistical analyses were applied to the data set. While multivariate analyses showed group separation by treatment, T‐tests and fold change revealed 12 metabolites differentially accumulated in strawberries from different treatments – among them phenolic compounds, glycerophospholipids, phytosterols, carbohydrates, and an aromatic amino acid. CONCLUSION Untargeted metabolomic analysis allowed for the annotation of compounds differentially accumulated in strawberry fruit from plants grown under osmotic stress and non‐stressed plants. The metabolic disturbance in plants under stress involved metabolites associated with the inhibition of reactive oxygen species and cell‐wall and membrane lipid biosynthesis, which might serve as osmotic stress biomarkers. © 2019 Society of Chemical Industry