Glycosylation-mediated spatial enrichment of ginsenosides in mountain-cultivated ginseng: Insights for industrial production of bioactive compounds

Panax ginseng C.A. Meyer has long been recognized as both a medicinal plant and an industrially important crop, distinguished by its abundant structurally diverse ginsenosides that contribute to a wide range of bioactivities. Mountain-cultivated ginseng (MCG) exhibits stronger mitochondrial regulatory activity than garden-cultivated ginseng (GCG); however, the spatial distribution patterns and structural determinants underlying this difference remain unclear. In this study, HPLC-based metabolomics combined with MALDI mass spectrometry imaging (MALDI-MSI) was employed to characterize tissue-specific ginsenoside distribution across xylem, cambium, and phloem regions of ginseng roots. Bioactivity was further evaluated using Drosophila melanogaster and H9C2 cardiomyocyte models. MCG exhibited pronounced glycosylation-dependent spatial enrichment of ginsenosides, with highly glycosylated protopanaxadiol-type saponins preferentially accumulated in the phloem tissue. Tissue-resolved bioactivity analysis demonstrated that phloem extracts displayed the strongest mitochondrial regulatory effects among all examined tissues. Single-compound functional screening suggested that phloem-enriched ginsenosides Rb2 and Rc may serve as representative candidate compounds associated with mitochondrial activity enhancement. These findings suggest an association among ginsenoside glycosylation patterns, spatial tissue localization, and mitochondrial bioactivity in the tested ginseng samples. The study also highlights phloem tissue as a high-value resource for targeted extraction and utilization of functional ginsenosides, providing a basis for precision processing and industrial valorization of mountain-cultivated ginseng.