Habitat-dependent metabolomic variation of Persicaria lapathifolia in the Gyeongsang region revealed by UPLC–QTOF/MS

Untargeted metabolomic analysis based on UPLC-QTOF/MS combined with multivariate statistical analysis was applied to compare habitat-dependent differences in the metabolite composition of Persicaria lapathifolia (L.) Delarbre collected from five native sites in the Gyeongsang region of Korea (Gimcheon, Gumi, Daegu, Gimhae, and Ulsan).Metabolite profiling was performed in positive electrospray ionization mode, and a total of 30 major metabolite features were annotated or classified based on accurate mass measurements and MS/MS fragmentation patterns.These features were mainly classified into flavonoids, phenylpropanoids, unknown features, carbohydrate-derived, and aliphatic compound classes.Principal component analysis revealed a tendency toward clustering of P. lapathifolia samples according to their native habitats, and orthogonal partial least squaresdiscriminant analysis using score plots and S-plots enabled the selection of key metabolites contributing to regional discrimination.Overall, the results demonstrated that habitat-dependent metabolic differences in P. lapathifolia were driven primarily by differences in the relative distribution of flavonoid, phenylpropanoid, and unknown features rather than by the accumulation of a single compound.This study elucidates the habitat-associated chemical characteristics of P. lapathifolia and provides fundamental data for habitat-based metabolomic comparison and quality evaluation.