Lithocarpus litseifolius is a novel food ingredient with medicinal, tea, and natural sweetening properties. This study examines the quality traits and chemical composition of 10 L. litseifolius samples from different geographic origins. Key metabolites are more concentrated in high-quality core regions, with Hengfeng having the highest levels and Anfu the lowest. Of the total 621 metabolites, 52 were significantly differentially accumulated and enriched in “metabolic pathways” and “secondary metabolite biosynthesis.” Unsupervised hierarchical clustering yielded two distinct clusters, aligning with established quality grades and geographical proximity. Mantel correlation and distance-based redundancy analysis identified soil available copper, phosphorus, potassium, and iron, as well as mean annual temperature, atmospheric pressure, and humidity, as key drivers of regional differences. Random forest ranking and PCA-based dimensionality reduction identified eight metabolites as markers of geographical origin. This study demonstrates a soil and climate-driven reconfiguration of secondary metabolism in L. litseifolius , offering guidance for region-based cultivation optimization.
Wang et al. (Fri,) studied this question.