Heavy collecting induces smaller and deeper Fritillariae Cirrhosae Bulbus in the wild

A distinction between Fritillaria Cirrhosa Bulbus and Fritillaria Pallidiflora Bulbus via LC-MS/MS in conjunction with principal component analysis and hierarchical cluster analysis

Fritillaria Cirrhosa Bulbus (known as chuanbeimu in Chinese, FCB) is one of the most used Chinese medicines for lung disease. However, a variety of substitutes have entered the market, with Fritillaria Pallidiflora Bulbus (FPB) being the most common. Due to their similarity in appearance, morphology, and chemical composition but a large price difference, the FCB has frequently been adulterated with the FPB, posing a serious challenge to the distinction and quality of the FCB. Therefore, we aimed to distinguish FCB and FPB based on their main nine isosteroidal alkaloid contents and test the potential of chemometrics as a discrimination approach for evaluating quality. The nine major isosteroidal alkaloids were measured using a liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) approach in 41 batches of FCB and 17 batches of FPB. Additionally, they were categorized and distinguished using the methods of hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) and principal component analysis (PCA). Quantitative analysis revealed that the nine alkaloids were present in different amounts in the two types of Fritillariae bulbus. In FCB, the highest amount was peimisine (17.92-123.53 μg/g) and the lowest was delavine (0.42-29.18 μg/g), while in FPB, imperialine was higher (78.05-344.09 μg/g), but verticinone and verticine were less than the other seven alkaloids. The FCB and FPB were successfully classified and distinguished by the HCA and PCA. Taken together, the method has a good linear relationship (R2 > 0.9975). The LOD and LOQ of the nine alkaloids were in the range of 0.0651-0.6510 and 0.1953-1.9531 ng/mL, respectively. The intra- and inter-day precision were shown to be excellent, with relative standard deviations (RSDs) below 1.63% and 2.39%, respectively. The LC-MS/MS method in conjunction with HCA and PCA can effectively differentiate FCB and FPB. It may be a promising strategy for quality evaluation and control at the FCB.

Integrative analysis of the steroidal alkaloids distribution and biosynthesis of bulbs Fritillariae Cirrhosae through metabolome and transcriptome analyses

Background

Bulbus Fritillariae Cirrhosae (BFC) is an endangered high-altitude medicine and food homology plant with anti-tumor, anti-asthmatic, and antitussive activities as it contains a variety of active ingredients, especially steroidal alkaloids. Bulbus Fritillariae Thunbergia (BFT) is another species of Fritillaria that grows at lower altitude areas. Production of plant-derived active ingredients through a synthetic biology strategy is one of the current hot topics in biological research, which requires a complete understanding of the related molecular pathways. Our knowledge of the steroidal alkaloid biosynthesis in Fritillaria species is still very limited.

Results

To promote our understanding of these pathways, we performed non-target metabolomics and transcriptome analysis of BFC and BFT. Metabolomics analysis identified 1288 metabolites in BFC and BFT in total. Steroidal alkaloids, including the proposed active ingredients of Fritillaria species peimine, peimisine, peiminine, etc., were the most abundant alkaloids detected. Our metabolomics data also showed that the contents of the majority of the steroidal alkaloids in BFC were higher than in BFT. Further, our comparative transcriptome analyses between BFC and BFT identified differentially expressed gene sets among these species, which are potentially involved in the alkaloids biosynthesis of BFC.

Conclusion

These findings promote our understanding of the mechanism of steroidal alkaloids biosynthesis in Fritillaria species.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12864-022-08724-0.

Simulation of potential suitable distribution of original species of Fritillariae Cirrhosae Bulbus in China under climate change scenarios

Fritillariae Cirrhosae Bulbus (FCB) is a famous traditional Chinese medicine, mainly used for relieving cough and resolving phlegm. According to Chinese Pharmacopoeia (2020), the medicine comes from dried bulbs of five species and one variety in Fritillaria. Due to climate change and human disturbance, the wild resources have become critically endangered in recent years. Following three climate change scenarios (SSP1-2.6, SSP2-4.5, and SSP5-8.5) under 2050s and 2070s, geographic information technology (GIS) and maximum entropy model (MaxEnt) were used to simulate the ecological suitability of FCB, a third-grade rare and endangered medicinal plant species. The results showed that the key environmental variables affecting the distribution of FCB were altitude, human activity intensity, and mean temperature of coldest quarter. Under current climate situation, the highly suitable areas were mainly located in the east of Qinghai Tibet Plateau, including Western Sichuan, southeastern Tibet, southern Gansu, Northwestern Yunnan, and Eastern Qinghai, with a total area of 31.47×104 km2, the area within the nature reserve was 7.13×104 km2, indicating that there was a large protection gap. Under the future climate change scenarios, the areas of the highly and poorly suitable areas of FCB showed a decreasing trend, while the areas of the moderately and total suitable areas showed an increasing trend. The geometric center of the total suitable area of the medicine will move to the northwest. The results could provide a strategic guidance for protection,development, and utilization of FCB though its prediction of potential distribution based on the key variables of climate change.

Modeling of the Potential Geographical Distribution of Three Fritillaria Species Under Climate Change

Fritillaria species, a well-known Chinese traditional medicine for more than 2,000 years, have become rare resources due to excessive harvesting. In order to balance the economical requirement and ecological protection of Fritillaria species, it is necessary to determine (1) the important environmental variables that were responsible for the spatial distribution, (2) distribution change in response to climate change in the future, (3) ecological niche overlap between various Fritillaria species, and (4) the correlation between spatial distribution and phylogenies as well. In this study, the areas with potential ecological suitability for Fritillaria cirrhosa, Fritillaria unibracteata, and Fritillaria przewalskii were predicted using MaxEnt based on the current occurrence records and bioclimatic variables. The result indicated that precipitation and elevation were the most important environmental variables for the three species. Moreover, the current suitable habitats of F. cirrhosa, F. unibracteata, and F. przewalskii encompassed 681,951, 481,607, and 349,199 km2, respectively. Under the scenario of the highest concentration of greenhouse gas emission (SSP585), the whole suitable habitats of F. cirrhosa and F. przewalskii reach the maximum from 2021 to 2100, while those of F. unibracteata reach the maximum from 2021 to 2100 under the scenario of moderate emission (SSP370) from 2021 to 2100. The MaxEnt data were also used to predict the ecological niche overlap, and thus high overlap occurring among three Fritillaria species was observed. The niche overlap of three Fritillaria species was related to the phylogenetic analysis despite the non-significance (P > 0.05), indicating that spatial distribution was one of the factors that contributed to the speciation diversification. Additionally, we predicted species-specific habitats to decrease habitat competition. Overall, the information obtained in this study provided new insight into the potential distribution and ecological niche of three species for the conservation and management in the future.

Natural drug sources for respiratory diseases from Fritillaria: chemical and biological analyses

Fritillaria naturally grows in the temperate region of Northern Hemisphere and mainly distributes in Central Asia, Mediterranean region, and North America. The dried bulbs from a dozen species of this genus have been usually used as herbal medicine, named Beimu in China. Beimu had rich sources of phytochemicals and have extensively applied to respiratory diseases including coronavirus disease (COVID-19). Fritillaria species have alkaloids that act as the main active components that contribute multiple biological activities, including anti-tussive, expectorant, and anti-asthmatic effects, especially against certain respiratory diseases. Other compounds (terpenoids, steroidal saponins, and phenylpropanoids) have also been identified in species of Fritillaria. In this review, readers will discover a brief summary of traditional uses and a comprehensive description of the chemical profiles, biological properties, and analytical techniques used for quality control. In general, the detailed summary reveals 293 specialized metabolites that have been isolated and analyzed in Fritillaria species. This review may provide a scientific basis for the chemical ecology and metabolomics in which compound identification of certain species remains a limiting step.

A Systematic Review on Traditional Uses, Sources, Phytochemistry, Pharmacology, Pharmacokinetics, and Toxicity of Fritillariae Cirrhosae Bulbus

Fritillariae Cirrhosae Bulbus (known as chuanbeimu in Chinese, FCB) is a famous folk medicine which has been widely used to relieve cough and eliminate phlegm for thousands of years in China. The medicine originates from dried bulbs of six species of Fritillaria which are distributed in the temperate zone of the Northern Hemisphere. Increasing attention has been paid to FCB because of its excellent medicinal value such as being antitussive, expectorant, analgesic, anticancer, anti-inflammatory, and antioxidative. During the past years, a large number of research studies have been conducted to investigate the phytochemistry, pharmacology, and pharmacokinetics of FCB. A range of compounds have been isolated and identified from FCB, including alkaloids, saponins, nucleosides, organic acids, terpenoids, and sterols. Among them, alkaloids as the main active ingredient have been illustrated to exert significant therapeutic effects on many diseases such as cancer, acute lung injury, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, asthma, Parkinson's disease, and diabetes. Due to the excellent medical value and low toxicity, FCB has a huge market all over the world and triggers a growing enthusiasm among researchers. However, there is still a lack of systematic review. Hence, in this work, we reviewed the FCB-based articles published in Sci Finder, Web of Science, PubMed, Google Scholar, CNKI, and other databases in the recent years. The traditional uses, sources, phytochemistry, pharmacology, pharmacokinetics, and toxicity of FCB were discussed in the review, which aims to provide a reference for further development and utilization of FCB.