Metabolomics and Transcriptomics Strategies to Reveal the Mechanism of Diversity of Maize Kernel Color and Quality

Maize kernels have many colors. However, the research on the color and nutritional quality of the different varieties is limited. In this study, the comprehensive analysis of the metabolome and transcriptome were conducted to compare different maize varieties from the perspective of multiple recombination, in order to study the nutritional value of maize with different colors and the mechanism of color formation. The results show that maize kernels with diversity colors contain different types of health-promoting compounds, highlighting that different maize varieties can be used as functional foods according to human needs. Among them, red-purple and purple-black corns contain more flavonoids than white and yellow kernels. Purple-black kernel have highly content of amino acids and nucleotides, while red-purple kernel significantly accumulated sugar alcohol and lipids. Our study can provide insights for improving people's dietary and provide a theoretical basis for the study of food structure for chronic diseases.