BACKGROUND: Salsola collina Pall. is a typical food-medicinal resource with considerable nutritional and medicinal value. However, systematic investigations into the dynamic changes in the chemical composition of the leaves of this species during the growth cycle remain limited to date. RESULTS: An integrated approach of transcriptomics and metabolomics was employed to identify and analyze the metabolites and genes in S. collina leaves at different growth stages in this study. A total of 1,125 differentially accumulated metabolites (DAMs) and 16,200 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified. Mapping of the DEGs and DAMs to Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathways revealed the significant enrichment of the phenylpropanoid biosynthesis pathway and flavonoid biosynthesis pathway, which were then considered core metabolic pathways. Within these two pathways, 258 DEGs and 26 DAMs were detected. The C4H and 4CL genes were expressed at relatively high levels during flowering, and the expression levels of most CHS, F3H, FLS, and ANR genes were relatively high during fruiting. The total flavonoid, polyphenol, and alkaloid contents peaked at the flowering stage, with values of 8.944 mg/g, 6.659 mg/g, and 6.616 mg/g, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: This study elucidates the regulatory effect of growth stage on the secondary metabolites in S. collina leaves, providing a theoretical basis and experimental evidence to support the research aimed at determining the precise harvesting time and realizing the efficient utilization of S. collina resources.
Chen et al. (2026) studied this question.